966 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
hairy upwards, anthers bearded at the base. Capsule |in. long, 
tapering at each end. Seeds several, subquadrate, rugose, 
glabrous (Duthie). 
N.B.— The figure given in Bentley and Triman's Medicinal Plants is erro- 
neous as to the seeds being hairy (C. B. Clarke). 
Uses : — This bittter shrub is well known under the name 
of Kalmegh, and forms the principal ingredient of a house- 
hold medicine called Alni, extensively used in Bengal. The 
expressed juice of the leaves, together with certain spices, such as 
cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon, &c., is dried in the sun, and made 
into little globules, which are prescribed for infants to relieve 
griping, irregular stools and loss of appetite. The medicinal 
properties of this plant are many. The roots and the leaves are 
febrifuge, stomachic, tonic, alterative and anthelmintic. Accord- 
ing to Murray, the plant is very useful in general debility, 
dysentery and certain forms of dyspepsia. It is officinal in the 
Indian Pharmacopoeia. “ The Yanadees, a wandering gipsy 
tribe in the Madras Presidency, constantly carry a supply of 
pills made of Great fresh leaves, and the pulp of the ripe 
tamarind, which they consider antidotal to the venom of the 
cobra A pill made into a paste with water is applied to the 
bitten part, and some of it is put into the eyes ; two pills 
are given for a dose every hour or two internally” (I*. 
Kinsley, Chicacole, Madras). “ Green leaves with the leaves 
of Indian birth wort (Aristolochia Indica) and the fresh inner 
root-bark of country sarsaparilla, made into an electuary, is 
used by native hakims as a tonic and alterative in syphilitic 
cachexia and foul syphilitic ulcers. I have seen many cases 
successfully treated by this electuary” (Morris, Negaptam). 
See Watt’s Dictionary. 
Surgeon-Major Parker, Medical Store-Keeper, Bombay, wrote : 
“ A preparation of this drug has, within the past few years, 
been largely advertised in England as a substitute for quinine 
and as a general powerful tonic. Kiryat is the native Chiretta 
and is used extensively by them as a febrifuge. Preparations — 
Succus, Fluid Extract, Infusion, Tincture. The whole plant is 
used and is collected towards the end of the monsoon and dried 
in the shade. The dried plant is to some extent found in the 
