1078 
INDIAN M I DICINAL PLANTS. 
From these experiments they conclude that the active principle is de- 
composed on the slightest heating, and that the only proper preparation 
of the drug would be one made without the application of heat. They pre- 
pared the polygomio acid of Dr, Rademaker, and conclude from their 
experiments that it is only a mixture of impure tannic and gallic acids. 
(Pharmacog. Ind, III pp. 150-151.) 
1062. P. alatum, Ham., h.f.b.i., v. 41. 
Syn. : — P. Nepalense, Meissu. 
Vern. Sat balon (Pb.). 
Habitat : — Throughout the Himalaya, from Sikkim to 
Kashmir. Khasia Mts., Nilghiri Mts., Canara ; and the Baba- 
budan Hills. 
An annual herb. Stem l-2ft., long, rarely creeping, for 
a short distance at the base, erect and sub-simple or branched 
from the base, erect, tall or low, glabrous or sparsely hairy. 
Branches 6-8in. high, slender or rather stout, flaccid or stiff. 
Leaves large or small (f-lgin. long), ovate or deltoid, ovate- 
obtuse or acute or narrowed into a broadly winged, often 
amplexicaul, petiole, glandular or not. Stipules tubular, obliquely 
truncate. Peduncles glandular, hispid at tip. Involucre-leaf 
often longer than the head, sessile, ovate, cordate, obtuse or 
acute. Heads usually with an involucrnl leaf, j-|in. Bracts 
ovate-lanceolate, glabrous, not ciliate. Perianth 1-5-fid, stamens 
7-8, included, sepals white or pale-purple, membranous, sub- 
equal, very variable in size. Style long, with one or two 
long arms and capitate stigmas. Nut varying in size, 1-in., the 
same head, closely invested and cohering with the thin perianth- 
tube and crowned with the lobes, bi-convex or tri-gonous, striate 
and punctate. 
Use:— In Kangra its leaves are applied to swellings 
(Stewart). 
1063. P. Molle Don Brod., h.f.b.i., iv. 50. 
Habitat : — Central and Eastern Himalaya; Nepal, Sikkim, 
Mishmi Hills. 
Shrubby, erect, 3-6ft. Stems angled, hairy, becoming tomen- 
tose in the upper parts. Leaves stalked or the upper nearly 
sessile, oblong-lanceolate, 4-9in. by U-3§in., long-pointed, upper 
