348 
INDIAN MEDICINAL 1'I.ANTS. 
Maimati (Assam') ; Karik, Amal-bel, gidard&k, drikri, vallur 
(Pb.) ; Odlii, ambat-vel (Mar.) ; Khat-khatumbo, tAmanya 
(Guz.) ; Kuru dinne, kadepa tige, kanapatige, mandulamari 
tige, meka mettani chettu (Tab) Walratdiyalabu (Sinhalese). 
Habitat : — Throughout the hotter parts of India and as- 
cending into the tropical Himalaya. Ceylon. 
Stems slender, much-branched, angular, quite glabrous. 
Tendrils long, slender, wavy, branched, and opposite the leaves. 
Young shoots glabrous, red. Leaves 3-foliate, 2-6 in., on long 
peduncles, channelled above. Leaflets small, usually shortly 
stalked, the middle one the largest and on longer stalk, broadly 
oval or rotundate, rounded at base, acute or obtuse, very 
coarsely crenate-serrate, glabrous and shining, thick. Stipules 
small, ovate, acute. Flowers white, green, says Trimen, shortly 
pedicellate. Cymes di-or-tri-chotomous, lax, divaricate, termina- 
ting lateral branches. Peduncle 2|-3 in., glabrous, petals acute, 
spreading. Berry f in., or ‘ more, depressed-globose, smooth, 
purple, 3-or 4-seeded, very juicy. Seed acutely trigonous, 
sharply pointed, bluntly muricate on beak, wedge-shaped on 
the face. 
Parts used. — The seeds and roots. 
Use. — The names given to it in many parts of India denote 
one of its most general uses, viz., the treatment of yoke sores 
on the necks of bullocks. For that purpose, a poultice of the 
leaves is employed (Elliot). According to Irvine the seeds and 
also leaves are employed as an embrocation. Stewart remarks 
that the root, ground with black pepper, is applied to boils. 
The root — Kamraj (II.) is used as an astringent medicine. 
303 . V. araneosus, Dalz. & Gibs, h.f.b.i., 
i . 657 . 
Vern. : — Bendir, bender-wel, ghorwel (Bom.). The root — 
Chamarmusli (Bomb.) 
Habitat : — Western Peninsula, highest ghats of the Concan 
and Pulney Mts. Grows very freely in Thana, and is called 
Bendri. 
