1058 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
Vern. : — Kanta nutia (Beng.) ; Xante mat (Dec.) ; Mulluk- 
kirai (Tam.) ; Mah : Xante bh4ji, kante math Chanlai kante- 
dar (H.) ; Mullan-ckira (Malay) ; Mullu-tota-kura ; Nalla 
doggali ; Erra mulu goranta (Tel.). 
Habitat : — Throughout India, in waste places, fields and 
gardens. ' 
An annnal erect glabrous herb. Stem l-2ft., bard, terete, 
leaf-axils with 5 straight spines §in. and under (J. D. Hooker). 
“ Stem,” writes Trimeu (Ceylon), “ polished, much-branched, 
cylindrical with a pair of very sharp divaricate opposite spines 
in leaf axils at the base of the bud or branch.” This is what I 
find among the Xonkan plants (X. R. Xirtikar). Leaves lj-2£ 
in., ovate-lanceolate, tapering to base, obtuse, spinous apiculate ; 
entire undulate, glabrous above, slightly scurfy beneath, lateral 
veins numerous, prominent beneath, petiole £-2in. Flowers very 
numerous, sessile, pale green, clusters dense, both axillary and 
in terminal interrupted spikes, male fewer than female. Bracts 
linear, bristle-pointed. Perianth leaves 5, rather longer than 
bracts, ovate, bristle pointed. Stamens 5, spreading ; ovary 
pointed, pubescent. Styles 2, long, spreading, hairy (Trimen). 
Utricle rugose, nearly equalling the sepals. Flowers sjin. 
long, sepals of- male acuminate, of female obtuse apiculate. 
Stigmas 2. Seeds gVu. diam., blacky shining, border obtuse, not 
thickened. The plant varies from green to red and purple. (J. 
D. Hooker.) 
fises “ Considered light, cooling and a promoter of the 
al vine- "and urinary discharges. Root said to be, according to 
Bhavaprakash, useful in menorrhagia.” (Dutt’s, p. 221.) 
“ Roots made into poultice are applied to buboes and abscesses 
for hastening suppuration.” (Asst.-Surg. A. C. Mukerji.) 
The whole plant is used as an antidote for snake-poison, 
and the root as a specific for colic. It is also considered a 
lactagogue, and, boiled with pulses, is given to cows (T. P-, p. 
184). Assistant-Surgeon Amrita Lai Deb, of Howrah, recorded 
the root as a specific in gonorrhoea ; also advocated its use in 
eczema (I. M. G., Nov. 1881). 
