346 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
it with advantage in ardo'r-urinte, dysuria, strangury and some 
cases of bilious dyspepsia. It is one of the best and most 
agreeable vehicles for other medicines, particularly those used 
in dyspepsia, dysentery, diarrhoea, and dropsical affections. 
From their combined actions of demulcent, expectorant and 
laxative, raisins are a frequent ingredient in Mohamedan 
prescriptions for catarrhal and febrile complaints. They enter into, 
the composition of Tinctura Cardamomi Composita and Tinctura 
Sennas. They also form an ingredient in one of my own formula; 
for certain forms of fever. There is little or no difference 
between the medicinal properties of the common variety of raisins 
and those of the small ones without stones (Moodeen Sheriff.! 
300 . V. indica, Linn, h.f.b.i., i. 653 . 
Fern.: — Amdhauka, Amulka(B.); Jangli anghr (H. and 
Dec.) ; Sambara or shembara-valli (Tel.) Chempara-valli 
(Malyal.) ; Randraksha, kole-jan (Mar.) ; Palkanda (Konk.) 
To-wel, Rata-bulatwel (Sinhalese). 
Habitat The central tableland of India, the Western 
Peninsula and Bengal. Ceylon most low country, up to 2,500 ft. 
Stems slender; permanently woolly-tomentose branches, 
leaves and peduncles. Leaves 4-10in., coriaceous, at length 
glabrous and shining above, cordate-obovate, acute, denticulate- 
serrate, the points of the serratures hard almost to spiny. Ped- 
uncles stoutish, bearing a long, simple or bifurcated tendril (X. 
R. K). Flowers greenish-purple, nearly sessile, in short cylin- 
drical spikes, about 2 in. Petals distinct ; rhomboid-ovate. Style 
0. Fruit globose, the size of a large currant or pea, 2-4 seeded. 
Seed i by ^ in., elliptic, slightly curved on the back, from end to 
end, otherwise flattish, with a spatlmlate tubercle, the face 
wedge-shaped. 
Use : — According to Rheede, the juice of the root., with the 
kernel of the cocoanut, is employed as a depurative and aperient. 
In the Concan, the country folk use it as an alterative in the 
form of a decoction, and they consider it to purify the blood and 
act as a diuretic and render the secretions healthy (Dyhock.) 
