N. O. COMPOSITE. 
687 
Uses : — In Sanskrit medicine it is principally used as a tonic 
and deobstruent in hepatic and splenic enlargements, and in 
various chronic skin diseases. There is a popular opinion that 
the herb taken internally and applied externally will turn the 
hair black. 
The fresh juice of the leaves is rubbed on the shaven scalp 
for the purpose of promoting the growth of hair (Dutt). 
Mahomedan writers ascribe the same properties to this plant 
as the hind us. 
In Bombay, the natives use the juice in combination with 
aromatics, as a tonic and deobstruent, and give 2 drops of it 
with eight drops of honey to new-born children, suffering from 
catarrh. The following prescription is used in the Concan for 
tetanus: — Maka juice, I tola; Juice of Leucas cephalotes 
(Tumba) £ tola; Ginger juice, 2 tolas ; Juice of Vitex trifolia, 1 
tola ; and leaf-juice of Sesbania grandiflora, 3 tolas : to be boiled 
with four times the quantity of cocoanut juice and a little 
rice and treacle to from a hhir, to be given twice a day. 
(Dymock). 
In the Gujrat district of the Punjab, it is used externally for 
ulcers, and an antiseptic for wounds in cattle (Ibbetson’s 
Gujrat: p. 11.) 
The Indian Pharmacopoeia recommends the expressed juice 
as the best form of administration in hepatic derangements, as 
a substitute for taraxacum. 
The fresh plant is applied with sesannun oil in elephantiasis, 
and the expressed juice in affections of the 6 liver and dropsy. 
When used in large doses, it acts as an emetic. It is also con- 
sidered cooling (Watt). 
It is anodyne and absorbent, and relieves headache when 
applied with a little oil. It is an excellent substitute for taraxa- 
cum (Kannye Lai De Bahadur). 
In Chutia Nagpur, the root is applied in conjunctivitis and 
galled necks in cattle (Revd. A. Campbell). 
The juice of the leaves is given in one teaspoonful doses in 
jaundice and fevers. The root is given to relieve the scalding 
