N. o. coKvoi.vuLaoeA. . 88? 
half a teacup-ful twice daily. (Ainslie). It is reputed to be a 
sovereign remedy for dysentery. 
The plant is used in Ceylon as a bitter tonic and febrifuge. 
The root is used by the Santals in intermittent fever of child- 
ren (ttevd. A Campbell). 
The leaves are made into cigarettes and smoked in chronic 
bronchitis and asthma The plant is astringent, useful in 
internal haemorrhages (Surgeon-Major Hunston, in Watt’s Dic- 
tionary). 
Ether separated from the powdered herb a yellow neutral fat of the 
consistence of vaseline. The alcoholic extract contained an alkaloid of a 
slightly bitter tasto, and affording no colour reactions with strong mineral 
acids. An organic acid of a deep red brown colour occurred in the water 
oxtract, and formed an uncrystallizable compound with lead. A quantity of 
saline matter was present in this drug. (Pharmaoograph. Ind. II. 644). 
851. Cressa cretiea, Linn, h.f.b.i., iv, 225 ; 
Roxb. 265. 
Sans: — Rudantika, Amrita-Srava. 
Vevn . : — Gfln (Sind.); Kliardi (Bomb.); Chavel (Nasik) ; Uppu 
Sauaga (Tel.). 
Habitat : — Throughout India, from the Punjab and Calcutta 
to Ceylon. 
A small erect bush-like annual. Stems 6-18in. long, slender, 
much branched. Leaves crowded, sessile |-|in. long, densely 
silky-hairy ; lower cordate, upper smaller, ovate or lanceolate. 
Flowers very shortly pedicelled, white or pink ; bracts 2, small 
linear, appressed to the calyx. Calyx densely silky; segments 
£in. long, elliptic, obtuse, concave. Corolla jjin. long, divided 
down to the middle ; lobes oblong, reflexed, hairy outside near 
the apex. Capsule £-Jin long, ovoid, pointed, hairy at the apex. 
Seeds 4. (L)ulhie.) 
The Indian plant dilfers from the common form C. cretica, 
in having the capsule 4 seeded. 
Uses : — It is considered by Sanskrit writers to be exhilarat- 
ing, and to purify the blood and give tone to the system. It is 
presented in decoction. 
