1070 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
“ The plants are dried in the. sun for two or three days, care 
being taken not to overdo this. They are then burnt in round 
pits 3 to 4 feet in diameter and 2 to 3 feet in depth. As the 
stuff burns more of it is continually added to the burning 
mass which is always kept stirred. The fused alkali now comes 
out as a liquid and collects at the bottom of the pit in a separate 
mass which on cooling forms the “ barilla ” ready for export.” 
1050. Salsola Kali, Linn., u.f.b.i., v. 17. 
Vern. : — Sajji bflti ( Pb. ). 
Habitat : — N.-W. Punjab, common in Baluchistan. 
Annual spinescent herbs ; pubescent, scabrid or glabrous, 
usually glaucous. Stem (i-18in., rarely erect, branches soft and 
pithy within, striped green white ; diffusely branched from the 
base. Leaves short, subulate, lanceolate from a ^-amplexicaul 
base, thick rigid, pungent, j-ljin., spreading and recurved. 
Flowers 1-3 together, axillary or subspicate, bracts sepals sub- 
equal pungent. Fruiting perianth cartilaginous, £ £in., diam 
transparent, often rose coloured ; base rounded, wings obovate, 
orbicular or ren'iform, scarious, sometimes obsolete. Seed ad- 
herent to the utricle. 
Use : — This plant is used in the manufacture of sajji. 
1051. Basella rubra, Linn., h.f.b.i., v. 20. Roxb. 
275. 
Vern.: — Poi, 141-bachhe (H.) ; Rakto-pdi, puisdk (B.) ; Lai 
bachle-kf-bhaji (Duk.); Shirappu-vasla-kire (Tam.) ; AUa-batsalla, 
pedda-mattu-neatku-batsala, erra-allu-bach-chali (Tel.) ; Chovva- 
una-basella-kira (Mai.); Kempa-basale (Kan.); Maydk bhaji, 
Velgond (Bomb.). 
Habitat : — Throughout India under cultivation. 
A much-branched, twining fleshy herb, glabrous. Leaves 
petioled, broadly ovate, or cordate-orbicular, 2-7in. diam., nar- 
rowed into the petioles. Spikes l-6in., axillary peduncled, simple 
or branched. Flowers red. Fruit size of a pea, purple when 
mature. 
“ Roxburgh regards two varieties of this, a red and a regen- 
