826 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
Habitat : — South Nepal ; at'Sukanagur ; South Coucan and 
the Bababoodau hills. 
Twining perennial herbs. Stems several from the root, 
erect 12-18in., nearly simple, flexuous or climbing amongst grass, 
pubescent. Branches glabrous below, finely puberulous above. 
Leaves small, 1-1 Jin., rather crowded; ovate or oblong-lanceolate, 
rounded or acute at base, acute, glabrous above, pubescent on 
veins beneath, coriaceous. J. D. Hooker says, “ leaves 1-2 by 
J-IJin.” Petiole Jin., slender, pubescent. Flowers small, on 
rather long, slender, pubescent pedicels. Cymes racemose, shorter 
than leaves, shortly stalked, erect; bracts filiform. Sepals linear- 
lanceolate, acute, coronal processes globose. -Follicles fusiform, 
short, turgid. “ 1J-2 by £-fin., ovoid-lanceolate; paricarp very 
thick, glabrous. Seeds Jin. long, broadly ovoid, quite flat.” 
“ Pollen-masses horizontal, according to Wight, but “ I think 
erect,” says J. D. Hooker. 
Uses : — In the Southern Concan, it is used as a poison for 
rats and other vermin. Dr. Lyon records a case in which it 
proved fatal to a man (1879). As this plant has very active 
properties, its physiological effects should be investigated 
(Dymock). 
The juice of the root is given with milk as a tonic ; the 
leaves are pounded and used as an application to unhealthy 
ulcers and wounds to induce healthy granulation (Pharmacogra- 
phia Indica, ~Vol. II. p. 441. 
The leaves were very mucilaginous when treated with water, and even the 
alcoholic extract when evaporated to dryness made a thick solution with a 
large quantity of water. The latter solution was precipitated by alkaloidal 
reagents and was most acrid to the taste. Shaken with ether a resinous body 
was removed, and then made alkaline with ammonia, which produced a slight 
precipitate, and again shaken with ether, a small quantity of an amorphous 
alkaloid was separated, which gave a yellowish brown colour with sulphuric 
acid, passing to a red. The leaves gave off slightly alkaline fumes when 
ignited, and left 12 per cent, of ash. 
The roots reduced to fine powder were made into a tincture with strong 
spirit, and the evaporated tincture when treated with water left some resi- 
nous matter undissolved. The solution shaken with ether yielded up some 
more resinous substance which became encrusted with feathery crystals when 
the solvent had been dissipated. A larger quantity of alkaloid was present 
