1030 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
Collett: — ‘Many flowered, crowded, compact, surrounded by 
an involucre of numerous long bracts.’ Bracts filiform or linear, 
hairy, equalling the Calyx. Calyx £in. long, hispid, usually 
curved. Corolla -j-lin. Stamens in unequal pair. 
Use : — The authors of the Pharmacographia Indiea write : — 
“ The plant from which the seeds of Faranjmishk or Biranjraishk, 
Arabic forms of the Persian name Palangmishk, are said to be 
obtained, is described by Persian Medical writers as having 
a clove-like odour, on which account it is often called Karanfal- 
i-bustcini, garden clove. According to Abu Hanfeh, it is the 
same as the plant called by the Arabs Asaba-el-faliydt. It is con- 
sidered to be cephalic, a stringent, cardiacal, tonic and carmina- 
tive.” 
994 . Mel'ssa parviflora, Bentli., h.f.b.i. iv. 651 . 
Fern. Badrunj boya (Pers.). 
Habitat : — Temperate Himalaya, from Garhwal to Sikkim 
and Mishmi. Khasia Mts. 
A pubescent or glabrate herb. Stem tall erect, angles 
hirsute. Leaves l-4in., ovate or ovate-lanceolate acute, base 
acute, rotunded or cordate ; petiole -j-lin .slender. Whorls numer- 
ous few-or raany-fid ; flowers pedicelled. Calyx £-£in. Calyx- 
teeth very* variable . in length of the acute points; bracts 
narrow. Corolla white ; tube very short, scarcely exceeding the 
Calyx."' 
Hooker writes : — “ Very near M. officinalis, which has its 
Eastern limit in Eastern Persia, but the leaves are more acute 
and the lower calyx teeth are broader and shorter, but these are 
variable characters in the European plant.” 
Uses : — Mr. Honnigberger speaks of M. officinalis, Linn., 
being used in the Punjab as stomachic, also in liver and heart 
diseases, and weakness of sight, etc. 
Of the M. officinalis, “ the leaves drunk with wine or applied 
outwardly are good against the stingings of venomous beasts 
and the bitings of mad dogs; also it helpeth the toothache, 
the mouth being washed with a decoction, and is likewise good 
