N. 0. I.OH ANTII ACIi/F,. 
1117 
Habitat: — Sikkim Himalaya; Khasia Mts.; Ganges Delta; 
Ondli ; Nilghiri or Kurg liills. 
A large, parasitic shrub. Blanches dichotomous, leafy, 
terete, slightly swollen at the nodes. Leaves rather thin and 
usually drying black, l-5in. long, very variable in breadth, 
pet.ioled, obliquely ovate or falcate, acute - or acuminate, 3-5 
nerved ; nerves often strong. Flowers monoecious, in axillary, 
sessile or shortly peduncled fascicles, l-3in., minute, greenish ; 
the lateral usually female, central male or absent, sometimes 
appearing spicate from terminating leafless shoots, deciduous. 
Bracts cuspidate. Perianth-lobes 3 or 4, triangular oblong. 
Fruit oblong, of the size of a pea (l-jin. long), truncate, 
smooth, yellowish ( Kurz ), “ blackish-brown ’’ ( Brandis \ 
Mr. Duthie writes in his Flor. Up. Gang. PI., [II. p. 65 — 
The Bundelkhand specimens collected by Edgeworth near Banda on Zlz ;/- 
pirns itylopyru* and Bnssia Uilifolia indicate a more robust habit of growth. 
The leaves are much broader and excessively coriaceous, and tho light-brown 
colour to which they have dried, gives them a different aspect as compared 
with typical specimens from other localities in N. India. Trimen says, that 
in Ceylon the plant dries to a pale yellowish-brown colour. Sir Joseph Hooker 
was of opinion that the Banda plant might prove to bo a different species. 
The only available material now at Kew is, however, insufficient to settle this 
point. 
Uses: — The leaves of a viscum, doubtfully referred to this 
species, growing oil Nux-Vomica trees in the neighbourhood of 
Cuttack, have been found to possess poisonous properties 
similar to those of the tree on which it grows. The subject was 
investigated by Sir William O’Shaughnessy, who detected in the 
powdered leaves the presence of strychnine and brucine. 
The powder of the dry leaf was used as a substitute for 
these drugs in the Hospital of the Medical College, Calcutta, 
with complete success, in doses of one to three grains thrice 
daily. ( Bengal Disp ) 
1108. V. orientale, Willd. h.f.b.i., v. 224 ; Roxb 
I 
715. 
Vcni.: — Bandit (H., Santal. and Kol.) ; Gurbel (Gotul) ; 
Sundara badinika (Tel.). 
