1050 
Indian Medicinal plants. 
The root and leaves possess slightly bitter and astringe nt 
qualities and were formerly much used as a febrifuge. They 
are still employed as a domestic remedy in England, and in 
Tuscany a decoction of the leaves is believed to form an excel- 
lent eye wash, and to have styptic properties. The seeds are 
used as diuretic in China. 
Contains a fair proportion of sugar and oxalic acid ; whilst in the leaves of 
the plant, T. Koller found albumen, pectin, with citric and oxalic acids, J. Ch. 
I. 1887 P, 49 
1021 P. Lanceolcita, Linn ., h.f.b.i., iv. 706. 
Vern. : — Baltanga (H.) ; Baltung, bartung(B); Parhar pangri, 
parbar paugi, bartang (Pushtu). 
Habitat : — Western Himalaya, from Kashmir to Simla, the 
Salt Range and Waziristan. 
Perennial scapegerous herbs, very variable in size. Root- 
stock tapering. Leaves all radical, shortly petioled l-12in., 
lanceolate, entire or toothed, 3-5-ribbed, woolly. Scape as long as 
the leaf, deeply furrowed. Spikes very short, |-3in, ovoid subglo- 
bose or cylindric ; bracts acuminate. Sepals usually ciliate, 
corolla glabrous ; filaments long. Capsule 2-celled ; cells 1-2- 
seeded. 
Uses : — The leaves are used as an application to wounds, 
inflamed surfaces and sores. The seeds are used with sugar as 
a drastic purgative. Said to act as a htemostatic. (Ph. J., 24th 
Feb, 1883. p. 683.) 
1025. P. brachyphylla, Edg., h.f.b.i. iv. 706. 
Vern. : — Parhar pangi (Pushtu). 
Habitat : — Western Himalaya, from Kumaon to Kashmir; 
Western Tibet, and Afghanistan. 
Perennial glabrous herbs. Leaves elliptic ovate, subsessile 
or petioled, 3-5-ribbed, axils glabrous. Scapes stout, glabrous, 
larger than the leaves and cylindric spikes. Much resembling a 
smaller state of P. Major, but the seeds are l-2in, each cell, 
oblong and plano-convex. 
Use : — The leaves, slightly bruised, are, in Ziarat, used as 
an application to wounds. (Lace, in Watt’s Die.) 
