724 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
The seeds are given boiled or made into a confection, in 
cases of bronchitis, especially chronic ones. (Calthrop in 
Watt’s Dictionary). 
Lettuce poultice acts as a soothing application to painful 
and irritable ulcers (Shircore, in Watt’s Dictionary). 
The juice from the incised flower-stalk of Lactuca virosa and other species, 
collected and dried, is known as Lactucarium. Syrup and tincture of this are 
used as a sedativa in irritable cough. 
696 — Sonchus oleraeeus, Linn., h.f.b. i., hi. 414 ,, 
Eoxb. 593 . 
Fern.: — Titaliya (Patna); Dodak (Pb.) ; Ratrinta - (Tel.); 
Mhatara (Bomb.) 
Habitat : — Throughout India, in fields and cultivated places 
(J. D. H). Common in Simla fields (Collett). Trimen observes that 
the plant is found as a weed in cultivated ground in Ceylon. 
Annual erect, milky glabrous or sparsely glandular hispid 
herbs, subumbellately branched above. Stems 2-3ft. Leaves 
thin, lanceolate entire or pinnatifid, 3-6in., J-amplexicaul, with 
acute auricles, terminal lobes large, leteral lobes pointing down- 
wards ; sometimes only one pair ; teeth small ; basal lobes acute 
entire or pinnatifid. Heads f-lin. diam., arranged in umbellate 
cymes. Achenes compressed ; faces 3-ribbed and muricate 
between the ribs. 
Uses : — According to Dr. Landry, the brownish' gum formed 
by evaporation of ihe common sow thistle, when taken internally ' 
in a dose of 2-4 grains, behaves as an “ intensely powerful hy- 
dragogue cathartic” and -acts powerfully upon the liver, duode 
num and colon. In its general effects, it is said to most resemble 
elaterium, producing large and watery discharges, so that it has 
proved a valuable therapeutic agent in ascites and hydrothorax. 
It requires, however, great care in its administration, since it 
has the disadvantage of griping like senna, and producing 
tenesmus like aloes. To counteract this, and to “ correct its 
fierce attacks on the mucous membrane of the intestinal tract,” 
Dr. Landry recommends that the gum should be administered 
