1034 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
bell-shaped, upper calyx-lip entire, lower obtusely 2-toothed. Sta- 
mens very small whitish. Corolla-tube very short included upper 
lip short, nearly straight, slightly flattened, concave. Nutlets 
very minute, s^in. long, ellipsoid (J.D. Hooker). 
Use. — The seeds are used in gonorrhoea and menorrhagia 
(Ste wart). They are used in Bombay to increase sexual powers 
(Dymoclo. 
1001. 8. cegyptica, Benth., h.f.b.i., iv. 656. 
Vern. — Tukhm malanga (Pb.). 
Habitat. — Tlie Punjab plains and hills, from Delhi westward ; 
and Scinde. 
A very dwarf scaberulous, hispid or hoary much-branched un- 
dershrub. Branched from the base, straggling, divaricate, rigid. 
Leaves rarely lin., small, few, subsessile, linear or lanceolate, 
acute rigid, crenate whorls remote 2-3-fid. Flowers small-hardly 
- 4 -in. long. Calyx glandular hairy, nodding, pedicelled, ovoid 
campanulate, fruiting Jin. long ; upper lip orbicular minutely 
3-t.oothed, teeth of lower subulate. Corolla-tube very short, not 
exserted, limb very small, upper lip short, nearly straight, slightly 
flattened concave. Nutlets isin. long, narrowly oblong, nearly 
black. 
Far. pumila — This is a variety named in Hooker under 
Salviam gyptica. It is more scabrid and hispid. Leaves very 
rigid and rugose. Calyx villous with long hairs. 
Use — The seeds are used in diarrhcea, gonorrhoea and 
haemorrhoids (Stewart). 
In Mexico and in some other parts of the United States, a drink is made 
from the seeds of several species of Salvia. In his “Notes on Economic 
Botany of the Western United States " (reprinted in the Ph. J., 21-2-1880), 
Surgeon J. T. Rothrock writes 
The seeds are collected, roasted and ground, in the native way, Between 
two stones. This puts it in the condition in which I first saw it. It is used 
as a food by mixing it with water and enough sugar to suit the taste. It soon 
developes into a copious mucilaginous mass, several times the original bulk.- 
The taste is somewhat suggestive of linseed meal. One soon acquires a 
fondness for it, and eats it rather in the way of a luxury than with any 
reference to the fact that it is exceedingly nutritious besides. It is in great 
demand among the knowing ones who have a desert to cross, or who expect to 
encounter a scarcity of water, and what there is, of bad quality. By preparing 
it so that it can be used as a drink, it seems to assuage thirst, to improve 
