1124 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
has been presumed to posses would, therefore, not appear to depend upon any 
single substance of a definite chemical character. (Hooper.) 
1114. E. thijmifolia, Burnt, h.f.b.i., v. 252; 
Roxb. 394. 
Sans. Rakta vinda chada. 
Vern. : — Dudiya sweta kerna (B ) ; Dudhi, cliotka dudhi (.FT.); 
Bara dodak, hazardana (Pb.) ; Chinamam ; Sittra paladi ; Patcha 
arise (Tam.) ; Reddi vari manu ba la ; Biduru nana biyyam (Tel.); 
Nayeti (Bomb.); Matbi-diidhi (Mar. . 
Habitat : — Throughout India in the plains and lower liPls, 
ascending in Kashmir to (5,500 ft. 
A small, pubescent, much-branched, annual herb ; stems 
4-12in. divaricately branched, spreading llat on ground, stipalar, 
minute, serrate. Leaves opposite, oblong, £in., obtuse; teeth acute 
or rounded. Involucres campanulate, minute, axillary ; teeth 4 ; 
lobes very short; glands green, narrowly bordered with a white 
petitles ; very short, rounded limb, sometimes absent. Styles 
short. Capsule pubescent with bluntly keeled lobes ; seeds 
wrinkled. 
“ The whole plant has often a coppery tinge,” says Trimeu. It 
flowers all the year round. Colour pink, a common weed. 
Flower heads very small ; sessile, l-3in. axil. Trimen makes 
the following remark, which is well worth quoting here : — “ The 
severed end .of a branch, made to touch lightly the surface 
of water, has the singular effect of violently repelling to con- 
siderable distance all floating particles in the neighbourhood.” 
Uses : — The expressed juice or powdered plant with wine is 
given as a remedy for the bites of venomous reptiles, and is 
applied externally to the bitteh part ; with milk it acts as a pur- 
gative and expels all noxious humors from the body. According to 
Ainsile, the Sanskrit name is Rakta-vindu-ebhada, which would 
imply that it is a remedy for Rahta-vindu, “ gonorrhoea with 
sanious discharge.” He remarks: — “The very small leaves 
and seeds of this low-growing annual plant, which, in their dried 
state, are slightly aromatic and a little a stringent, are given by 
the Tamool doctors, in worm cases, and in certain bowel affec- 
tions of children ; they are commonly administered in the form 
