N. O. NYCTAOINE/E. 
1053 
Verv. Sant, Gadhn pftrna, (H.) ; PunarnabA, seveta punar- 
nabn (B.); PunarnavA, khapara, ghetuli (Bomb.); Vakha 
khaparo, dholi sAturdi, moto satodo (Guj.) ; Punarnawn (Satodi- 
putchee) (Cutch) ; Vasu (Mar.) ; Tbikri-kd-jbAr (Duk.) ; Nakbel 
(Sind); Mukaratte-kire, mukukratt (Tam.) ; Atafamdmidi (Tel.); 
1 tsit (Pb.) ; Tamilaina, talutAma, (Mai.); Sanadika, balevadaki- 
gida (Kan.). 
Ha itat : — Throughout India; from the Punjab to Assam 
and South to Travancore. 
A dilfuselly branched herb ; root stout, fusiform, rootstock 
woody. Stems 2-3ft. long, slender, prostrate or ascending, 
swollen at the nodes, minutely hairy and sometimes viscid or 
subglabrous, often tinged with purple. Leaves rather thick, 
arranged in unequal pairs at each node, J-IJin. long, ovate 
oblong or sub-orbicular, green and glabrous above, usually 
white beneath ; base rounded or subcordate, margins subundu- 
ate, often pink ; petioles about as long as the blade. Flowers 
minute, subcapitate, 4-10 together in small bracteolate umbels 
forming slender long-stalked axillary and terminal panicles ; 
bracteoles lanceolate, acute. Perianth Jin. long ; tube glandu- 
lar-hairy ; limb red, funnel-shaped, with 5 narrow vertical bands 
outside. Stamens 2 or 3, slightly exserted. Fruit Jin. long, 
clavate, rounded, viscidly glandular on the 5 broad blunt ribs 
( Tluthie ). 
Uses: — “It is used in jaundice, ascites, anasarca, scanty 
urine, and internal inflammations ” (Dutt). In the Punjab, 
considered useful for the eyes (Ibbetson’s Gujrat). In Goa, 
the herb is esteemed as a diuretic in gonorrhoea, in Bombay is 
much used for dropsical swellings (Uymock). The use of the 
root in gonorrhoea appears to have been introduced by tbe 
Portuguese ; in the West Indies, the plant is known as Bejuco de 
purgacion, and is the popular remedy for that disease. The 
root used in bronchitic asthma. This has been confirmed by 
the experience of the French in the Antilles, where the plant is 
called Patagon or Patagonelle-Valeriane. Its diuretic properties 
have been borne testimony to by numerous medical officers. 
(Watt, 1. 486.) 
