614 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
Flowers in sessile clusters. Calyx-lobes ovate, often scarious on 
the margin, coloured within. Bracts scarious. Petals 0. Stamens 
5, inserted near top of the calyx. Styles 2. Capsule -JAn. ; 
beak consisting of two lanceolar portions, acute upward (mitri- 
form), separating into two 1-seeded parts, lower portion of the 
fruit 2-seeded. Seeds dull black, roughly puberulous, the con- 
certric lineation very obscure (C. B. Clarke). 
Use: — It is used as an astringent in abdominal diseases, 
and is also stated to produce abortion (Dr. Stewart). 
560. T , decandra, Linn, h.f.'b.i., ii. 661. 
Vern. : — Gada-cani (B.) ; Bhee's Khupra (Dec.); Vallay- 
sharunnay (Tam.); Telia ghalijeroo (Tel.) ; Jaija soppu (Kan.). 
Habitat : — Deccan Peninsula. 
Diffuse, prostrate, branched herb, glabrous or papillose. 
Leaves 1-l^in. ; oblong or elliptic ; petiole J~|in. Flowers in 
nearly sessile clusters. Calyx-lobes ovate, usually obtuse, often 
scarious on the margins. Bracts scarious. Stamens 10. Petals 
0. Styles 2. Capsule -Jin. ; beak a truncate solid cylinder, 
not at all or very obscurely mitriform, with two included seeds, 
indehiscent or finally splitting. Seeds 4 ; 2 lower, dull black, 
puberulous, with numerous faint concentric raised lines. 
Uses : — The root is aperient, and said to be useful in hepati- 
tis, asthma and suppression of the menses. A decoction of 
the root-bark is given as an aperient (Ainslie). 
The root, ground up with milk and given internally, is 
said to be a specific in orchitis. The juice of the leaves drop- 
ped into the nostrils relieves one-sided headache (Surgeon- 
Major Thompson, c.i.e., in Watt’s Dictionary). 
561. Mollugo hirta, Thumb., h.f.b.i., ii., 662. 
Syn . : — Pharnaceum pentagonum, Roxb. 275. 
Vern . Kothruk (Sind.); Poprang, gandie bootee (Pb.); 
Zakhrni-haiyat (Pb. Bazar, according to Stewart®). 
* Dymock gives Zakhmi-hyat as the Bombay name of Kalanchce Laciniata, 
Pc., which see. 
