608 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
or acute, irregularly or slightly dentate. Wight says : “ The 
leaves are sometimes ouly obtused-angled, densely covered on 
both sides with short bristly hairs.” This is something more 
than being pubescent as described by Trimen. Wight’s des- 
cription is more accurate as regards Indian species. Petiole 
more than half the length of the leaf, stout glabrous, and some- 
what round, often bent to give the leaf a deplexed appearance. 
Flowers unisexual, monoecious, yellowish green. Male flowers 
very small, on short pedicels, more yellow than the female 
flowers. Inflorescence. “ A small corymb at the apex of a 
long peduncle ” (C. B. Clarke). Peduncle roundish, smooth, 
straight, stiff. Bracteoles present at the insertion of the 
pedicels. Pedicels short, +| in., sometimes lin. Calyx 
campanulate, lobes 5, short. Corolla 5-partite. Stamens 
5 (arranged 2+2 + 1), that is, 2 sets of stamens united, 
forming a bundle each of two filaments and one solitary, 
nearly sessile, at the mouth of the Calyx-tube. Connective 
very small. Anthers free, 1-celled, straight, oblong, not pro- 
duced ; no rudimentary gynoecium in the male flowers. Females 
axillary, solitary, in the same or different axils from those of 
the male flower, or accompanied with a small raceme ; larger 
than the male. Ovary inferior, ovoid, of three carpels united 
into one cell. Ovules 6-9, horizontal; stigmas 3, styles 3, distinct, 
short. Fruit fin., often £-fin., roundish or ovoid, mostly 
conical, with a bent- beak, which is hardly perceptible in most' 
flowers. Fruit smooth, of orange or brick-red colour when ripe. 
Seeds elliptical or nearly globose, little margined, 6-9, in an 
orange-coloured pulp, very slightly compressed, pale-brown, 
ad pressed, says Trimen. Wight, on the other hand, says the 
seeds are white. In the specimens I have examined, the pulp 
is distinctly whitish, and the older the seeds, the browner theit 
colour [K. R. K.J 
Uses : — Ainslie remarks that the Vytians hold it in great 
estimation, and prescribe it in the later stages of dysentery, 
and old venereal complaints. It is usually administered in 
powder, the dose being about one draham in 24 hours, and con- 
tinued for eight or ten days together ; this quantity produces 
