N. 0. ASOLEPI AEA3. 
813 
(Sind. ) ; Manddra (Alar.) ; Safed-ak, ale, madar (Hind.) ; Vellerku 
(Tam.); Spalwakka (Afg.). 
Habitat,-. — Western and Central India, from Sindh and the 
Punjab to Behar and Bombay. 
Habit, leaves, and inflorescence as of C. gigantea, excepting 
that the leaves, 8-9 by 4in., are more gradually narrowed and 
somewhat less cottony beneath when mature, and the peduncles 
rather longer. Flowers purplish red, silvery outside, odorous ; 
buds hemispherical. Corolla campamdate, lobes erect. Corona- 
scales acute, nearly as broad as long, glabrous or pubescent. 
Follicles as of C. gigantea. Both the plants have a white, milky, 
acid juice and substantial roots. 
Rev. A. E. Nairne, in the Flowering Plants of Western India writes : — 
I never could make out the difference between the two species, as the 
distinctions given seemed to me to bo not only trifling, but also not constant ; 
and Roxburgh know of only one species. There are also various differences 
of opinion among the authorities as to the distribution of the two species. 
One or both of these shrubs has the property of maintaining a very low 
temperature, Hooker having found the fresh milky juice to be 70°, when the 
soil surrounding the roots was from 90° to 101° and the exposed leaves 80°, 
when the surrounding earth was about 105. 
Us es : — The medicinal properties of this plant are similar to 
those of C. gigantea. The milky juice is, moreover, used as a 
blistering agent. The fresh root is used as a tooth-brush, and 
is considered by Pathflns to cure toothache (Watt). 
The flowers believed to have detergent properties. (S. Arjun). 
The fresh milk is employed in the Punjab for the purposes 
of infanticide. In a drachm dose the fresh juice will kill a 
large drop in 15 minutes ; its action, though slower, resembles 
that of hydrocyanic acid, but commences with foaming at the 
mouth. (Dr. Aitchison, in Watt’s Dictionary). 
The flowers are used in cases of cholera (Dr. Thompson, in 
Watt’s Dictionary). 
In the Second Report of the Indigenous Drugs Committee, 
(p. Ill), it is stated : — 
Oalotropia proccra and Oalotropis gigantea (tinofcure used) : —Conflicting 
reports of the action of this drug were received from those who experi- 
mented with it. Major Sutherland, Principal of the Lahore Medical College, 
tried it at the Mayo Hospital and reports that it has not proved of much value 
