616 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
He considers that it is justly held in estimation by the native 
practitioners. In Puddokota, the juice is applied to itch and 
other skin diseases (Pharmacographia Indica, Vol. II., p. 103). 
563 M. stricta, Linn, h.f.b.i., ii. 663. 
Syn. : — M. triphylla, Lour Roxb. 121. 
Vern : — Jul-papra (B.) ; kharas (Bomb.). 
Habitat : — Very common throughout India. 
Branched glabrous herbs. Stems a foot high, leafy ; Leaves 
f-IJin., whorled or opposite, varying from lanceolate acute 
to obovate obtuse, much narrowed at the base ; petiole hence 
obscure. Cymes compound, the branches sometimes racemed. 
Sepals ism.; elliptic or round. Stamens 3-5, filaments dilated. 
Styles 3, short, linear. Capsule as long as the sepals, globose, 
many-seeded, the walls thin. Seeds dark, chestnut-coloured, 
covered with raised tubercular points ; embryo curled into three- 
quarters of a complete circle. 
Use: — Highly esteemed by the Hindus as a bitter vegetable 
which they eat occasionally on account of its stomachic, aperi- 
ent and antiseptic properties. An infusion of the plant is given 
to women to promote the menstrual discharge (Dymock). 
The bitter leaves are antiperiodic (Surgeon-Major Stewart, 
in Watt’s Dictionary). 
564. M. Cerviana, Seringe, h.f.b.i., ii. 663. 
Vern. Ghima sak (Beng.) ; Pada (Mar.); Parpada gaum 
(Tam.) ; Parpataka t,Tel.). 
Habitat : —Hotter and drier parts of India, from the Punjab 
to Ceylon. 
An annual marsh, plant, herbaceous, glabrous, much branch- 
ed. Stems 3-6iu., erect, usually several. Leaves 1-fin., radical 
leaves tufted, spathulate or obovate ; cauline leaves linear- 
oblong, often 4-8 in a whorl, whence spring umbellately many 
branches. Peduncles trichotomous or umbellate-cymose. Sepals 
^in., elliptic or round. Stamens 5. Styles very small. Capsule 
as long as the sepals, globose, many-seeded. Seeds reticulated 
without, tubercular raised points “ pink-chestnut or yellowish, 
covered with slightly elevated oblong reticulations, bluntly 
