810 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
Sans. : — Doogdhikd. 
Vern. : — Gharote (Pb.) ; Guray kheeree, dlioodbee (Sind.) ; 
Doodhlutta (Beng. and blind.);. Khirai (B.) ; Doodee-palla (Tel.) ; 
Dudhika (Bomb.) ; Dudhani (Mar.j. 
Habitat: — Throughout the plains and lower hills of India, 
from the Punjab to Assam, and Ceylon. 
A very slender, climbing, perennial, deciduous herb ; roots 
fibrous, form the lower nodes. Stems numerous, long, much- 
branched, slender, quite glabrous. Leaves deciduous, 4-6 by 
J-lin.,. membranous, lanceolate, linear, rounded at base, tapering 
to very acute apex, glabrous, thin, pale green, venation pellucid. 
Petiole fin., slender. Flowers pale, cream-colour, veined and 
stained with purplish streak, large, drooping, lin. or more in 
diam., on long slender pedicels, which are thickened upwards, 
cyme from between the petioles, 3 or 5-fid, lax, racemose, long 
stalked, much exceeding leaves. Bracts minute. Calyx- 
•te 
segments lanceolate, acute, glabrous, thin. Corolla f-lin. diam. 
Lobes rather shallow, ovate, triangular ; column prominent ; 
filaments very broad. Follicles rather membranous, 2|in., 
somewhat falcate, a little inflated, smooth (and often abortive) ; 
seeds very numerous, broadly ovate, flat, fin., carnose ; coma 
fin. long. 
Uses: — A decoction of the plant is used as a gargle in aph- 
thous ulcerations of the mouth and in sore-throat. The milky 
sap forms a wash for ulcers in Sind. In combination with 
turpentine it is prescribed for itch (Murray). 
Probably on account of the milky juice which it exudes, 
native practitioners ascribe galactagogue properties to this 
plant. It has a very bitter taste, and is said to possess marked 
antiperiodic properties (S. Arjun). 
The fresh roots are, in Orissa, held to be a specific for 
jaundice. (W. W. Hunter). 
772 . Calotropis gigantea, R. Br. h.f.b.i., iv. 17 . 
Syn. : — Asclepias gigantea, Roxb. 25. 
Sans ’■ — Arka. 
