684 
INDIAN MF.DI01NAI, PLANTS. 
Vern — Chhota-gokhru ? (Hind.); Bun-okra (BeDg.) ; Shan 
keshvara ; Dhupa (Bomb.); Marlumulta (Tam.); Veritel-nep 
(Tel.); Gokhroo, kullan (Sind ; Pb.) 
Habitat : — Throughout the hotter parts of India, usually 
near houses; ascending the Western Himalaya to 5,000ft. 
An annual coarse, rough, unarmed herb. Stem short, stout, 
slightly branched, spotted, harsh with bristly hairs. Leaves 
petioled, 2-3in. long, scabrid, triangular-cordate or orbicular 
lobed and toothed, base cuneate. Heads in terminal and 
axillary racemes, fruiting involucres fin. long, ovoid or oblong, 
beaks erect or diverging. Achenes enclosed in the hardened 
involucral cells, ovoid thick ; pappus absent. 
Use : — The whole plant is supposed to possess powerful dia- 
phoretic and sedative properties. It is generally administered 
in the form of decoction, and is said to be very efficacious in long 
standing cases of malarious fever -,S. Arjun). Mr. Baden- 
Powell says that the root is a bitter tonic, useful in cancer and 
strumous diseases. The prickly fruit considered cooling and 
demulcent and is given in small-pox (Stewart). 
In America and Australia, this plant has been observed to 
prove fatal to cattle and pigs. Its hairs and prickles are em- 
ployed as medicine in China (Dymock). 
In Southern India, the prickly involucre is applied to the ear, 
or tied in a bunch to the ear-ring, to cure hemi-crania (Elliott). 
“ Has proved very useful in urinary diseases, a good diuretic, 
diminishes the irritability of the bladder. Very useful also 
in gleet and leucorrhoea, given as infusion or in one drachm 
doses in powder. Has also been given in menorrhagia (Penny, 
in Watt’s Dictionary). 
The fruits are slightly narcotic (Surgeon Mukerji, in Watt’s 
Dictionary.) 
647 . Siegesbeckia Orientalis, Linn, h . f . b . i ., iii . 
304 . 
Syn. : — S. brachiata, Roxb ■ 605. 
Habitat : — Throughout India, ascending to 5,000ft., in the 
Himalaya and other mountains. 
