850 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
801. Swertia purpurascens, Wall. h.f.b.i.,iv. 121. 
Vern. : — Chiretta (H.). 
Habitat : — Temperate North West Himalaya, from Kashmir 
to Kumaon. 
An annual herb l with stems 8-36iu , solid, erect, terete, or 
4-lanceolate. Leaves opposite, 3-1 — nerved, H by ^in., oblong or 
lanceolate, base narrowed, lowest sub-obtuse ; uppermost acute, 
glabrous. Panicles divaricate, many-flowered, leafy; pedicels 
often clustered. Flowers. 5-merous Sepals fin., almost free, 
oblong, 1-nerved. Corolla-lobe fin., Ovate, acute, purple or dark 
red, reflexed in flower ; pits solitary near the base of each lobe, 
horse-shoe-shaped, naked. Stamen tube erect, filaments puber- 
ulous, united into a short tube free from the Corolla. Anthers 
elliptic-lanceolate, much acuminate ; style long ; stigmas sub- 
linear. Seeds 3 1 0 in. diam., globose, smooth, light-yellow when 
ripe. “ This species is recognised at once by the red-purple 
much-reflexed corolla-lobes.” (C. B. Clarke). 
Uses : — Collected as a substitute for true c hirettah and 
exported to the plains. 
802. S paniculata, Wall , h.f.b.i., iv. 122. 
Vern. ■ — Kadavi (Mar.). 
Habitat '■ — Temperate Western Himalaya, from Kashmir to 
Nepal. , 
Close resemblance to S. purpurascens when dried. Leaves 
oblong or lanceolate, 3-1-nerved. Sepals Jin., oblong, acute, 
sub-l-nerved. Corolla-lobes Lin., ovate, acute, white in the 
upper half, patent, not reflexed in flower ; pit very near the 
base of the Corolla, 1 to each lobe, naked ; near the base of the 
Corolla-lobe are two purple or lurid-green sub-glandular marks, 
sometimes confluent into one. Filaments hardly dilated down- 
wards, not puberulous, linear, separately attached to the 
Corolla-tube. Anthers oblong, not hastate. Style long, stigmas 
linear. Capsule Jin., elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate. Seeds as of 
S. purpurascens, but rather smaller. 
Use : — Used as a substitute for true ehirettah. 
