1056 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
Leaves 6-10in., elliptic, oblong-ovate or oblong, acute or acumi- 
nate. Petiole f-lfin. Flowers in dense corymbose terminal 
cymes. Male flowers fin. long, tubular campanulate, pedicelled, 
5-toothed, stamens 8. Female flower much smaller ; stigma pedi- 
cellate. Fruit flower much smaller. Stigma pedicellate. Fruit 
j-fin. long, long-pedicelled, narrow club-shaped, 5-angled, angles 
with one row of prickles. 
Use : — The fresh leaves, moistened with Eau-de-Cologne, are 
used to subdue inflammation of an elephantoid nature in the 
legs and other parts. (Sakharam Arjun.) 
N. 0. AMARANTACEiE. 
1032. Celosia argentea, Linn., h.f.b.i. iv. 714. 
Roxb. 228. 
Vern. : — Debkoti, sufaid murgha, sarwari sirali, ghogiya 
(H.) ; Sirgit arak (Santal) ; Salgara, chilchil, sil, sarpankha(Pb.) ; 
Swet murga (B.) ; Sarwali, ucha-kukur (Sind.) ; Lapadi (Guz.) ; 
Kudhu, kurdu (Bomb.) ; Kurdu kurada (Mar.) ; Gurugu, panche 
chettu (Tel.). (Several of these vernacular names imply white 
coxcomb). 
Habitat : — Central and Northern India. 
A glabrous erect annual herb, l-3ft. , stout slender, simple or 
branched. Leaves 1-Oin., narrow, linear or lanceolate. Spikes 
solitary, few or many, 1-8 by f-lin.; peduncles slender. Flowers 
f-fin., white, glistening ; bracts much shorter than the acute 
sepals ; style filiform. The top of the spike sometimes branches 
out in a coxcomb form. 
Uses: — The seeds are officinal, being an efficacious remedy 
in diarrhoea. The Revd. A. Campbell says the Santals extract 
a medicinal oil from them. The amount of oil extracted by 
ether amounts to only about 7 per cent. The author of the 
Muffaridat-i-Nasiri states that 180 grains of the seeds with an 
equal quantity of sugar-candy taken daily in a cup of milk 
is a most powerful aphrodisiac. (Dymock ) 
