634 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
Uses : — It is regarded by the Hindus as stomachic, carmin- 
ative and astringent ; useful in dyspepsia and diarrhoea. It 
is thought to be very cooling, and on that account forms a part 
of most prescriptions for gonorrhoea (Dyrnock). 
Like Kdla zira, it is also used as a lactagogue. 
Sanskrit authors recommend a poultice made of cumin seeds 
with the addition of honey, salt and clarified butter to be applied 
externally for scorpion-bites (Dutt). 
585. Daucus Garota, Linn, h.f.b.i., ii. 718, 
Roxb. 270. 
Sans. : — Garjara. 
Fern. : — Gajar (II. and Bd ; Gajjara, Manjal-mullangi 
(Tam.) ; Pita-kanda (Tel .) ; Mor muj, Bui muj, Tvach (Kash- 
mir) ; Zardak (Pushtu) ; Petaigagar (Sind). 
Habitat : — Kashmir and the Western Himalaya ; cultivated 
elsewhere in India. 
Annual or biennial herbs, hispid. Stem 1-4 (in the Himalaya, 
often 6ft.) Leaves 2-3-pinnate, pinnatifid segments, narrow- 
lanceolate. Bracteoles many, 3-fid and simple. Umbels com- 
pound, rays usually many ; outer rays connivent in fruit. 
Calyx-teeth small or obsolete. Petals obovate, emarginate, 
white, outer often radiant. Fruit elliptic, T 5 0 in. ; bristles on the 
secondary ridges glistening white, connate at the base only of 
the primary ridges, small or sessile, sub-glochidiate. Carpophore 
undivided. Vittee solitary under the secondary ridges. 
Uses : — The seeds are considered to be a nervine tonic. 
Boiled with honey and fermented, they produce a spirituous 
liquor. A decoction of the leaves and seeds is said to be used 
by natives as a stimulant to the uterus during parturition. 
The roots are made into a marmalade and considered refrigerant 
(Emerson.) 
In the Punjab, the seeds are considered aphrodisiac, and 
given in uterine pain (Stewart). 
