166 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
This is a cultivated, herbaceous plant in Indian gardens 
from English seed. 
Root biennial. Stem in garden-growth in pots, 6-10 ft. 
high, erect, stout, simple, more or less hispid, with fasciculated 
branched hairs 
Leaves on rather short petioles, cordate, five-to seven- 
lobed, the lobes angled, unequally serrated ; upperside dark 
green, slightly downy, beneath pale, more downy, with fascicu- 
lated stipules, large, unequally bifid. Flowers solitary, large, 
handsome. Petiole short. Calyx large, five-cleft, downy, striated, 
the segments acute. Involucre monophyllous, large, cup-shaped, 
six-to-nine-lobed, striated, yiovvny, the lobes obtuse, often 
bifid. Staininal tube short. Anthers very numerous, pale 
yellow. Ovaries numerous, collected around the dilated downy 
base of the style which latter is cleft at the extremity into 
several segments. Corolla of five very broad, wavy, obcordate 
or somewhat cuneate petals, united at the base, often with 
a pale eye or centre, surrounded with a deep, black-purple, 
ring. 
Parts used : — The flowers, leaves, seeds and root. 
Uses : — The seeds of this plant are demulcent, diuretic and 
febrifuge. The flowers have cooling and diuretic properties. 
The roots are supposed to be astringent and demulcent, and are 
much used in France to form demulcent drinks. 
In the Punjab, the flowers are given in rheumatism, and 
the roots in dysentery (Stewart.) 
The leaves and roots are also used for the same purposes 
as of the preceding species. 
Moodeen Sheriff describes the properties, and used A- 
officinalis and A. rosea collectively. According to him, they 
are demulcent, refrigerant and emollient. The mucilage of 
the petioles, stem and roots is generally a very useful adjunct 
to other medicines in dysentery and mucous diarrhoea, and, in 
some very slight cases, it is sufficient by itself to relieve these 
diseases to a great extent. Tormina and tenesmus are the 
symptoms which are most relieved by it. The decoction of the 
