610 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
N. 0. DATISCACEiE. 
556 . Datisca eannabina, Lirm. h . f . b . i ., ii . 656 . 
Vern. : — Akalber (H.) ; Bhang jala. Bayr Bunja (Pb.) ; Vof- 
tangel, Teh erg. (Cashmere). 
Habitat : — Tropical and sub-tropical western Himalaya, from 
Kashir to Nepal, Simla. Collett says it may occur in the Sutlej 
or Giri Valley. 
A glabrous herb ; stem erect, robust, 2-6ft., branches 
flower-bearing, long. Stem-leaves alternate, pinnate 'lower 
ones the larger), 6-12in.; leaflets 5-11, shortly stalked, lan- 
ceolate, 6 by l|in , coarsely toothed, tip long pointed, entire. 
Leaves of branches alternate, linear-lanceolate, l-3in., toothed 
or entire ; stipules none. Flowers 1-sexual, regular, male and 
female on different plants,, yellow, small, shortly-stalked, in 
numerous axillary clusters. Male flowers : — Calyx-tube vein 
short, limb 5-lobed ; petals none; stamens sessile, anthers 
oblong, rather large, filaments very short. Female flowers: — 
Calyx-tube ovoid, obscurely 3-angled, adnate to the ovary, limb 
3-toothed ; petals none ; ovary inferior, 1-celled ; styles j-3in. 
each divided nearly to the base in 2 linear stigmas ; ovules 
numerous attached to 3 placentas on the cell-wall. Capsule 
oblong, -jin. by less than iin., opening at the top ; seeds 
numerous, minute Collett) and (C. B. Clarke). 
Parts used : —The herb, roots and bark. 
Use : — It is bitter and purgative, and is occasionally used 
in fevers and in gastric and scrofulous complaints. In Khagan, 
the bruised root is applied to the head as a sedative. Madden 
states that under the name, Bujr Bunja, it is used medicinally 
in Kurnool (Stewart). 
It may be administered in doses of from 5 to 15 grains in 
intermittents (Dymock). 
Medicinally, it acts as a sedative in rheumatism (Watt). 
Used as an expectorant in catarrh ; also locally to carious 
teeth (London Exhib. 1862) The bark also contains a bitter 
principle like quassia (Watt). 
