1224 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
N. 0. GNETACEiE. 
1212. Ephedra vulgaris, Rich., h.f.b.i., v. 640. 
V ’em. : — Amsinia, Butshur, Chena (Pb.) Kbanda, Khama 
(Kuuawar) ; Phok (Sutlej). 
Habitat : — Temperate and Alpine Himalaya and Western 
Tibet in the drier regions, altogether 7-12,000 ft., 12-16,000 ft. in 
Sikkim. . 
A low-growing, rigid, tufted shrub, with usually a gnarled 
stem and erect green branches which are striate and nearly 
smooth. Bracts connate to the middle, not margined, eciliate, 
rarely produced into minute linear leaves. Spikelets 4 to 1 
inch, subsessile, often whorled ; fruiting with often fleshy, red, 
succulent bracts, 1 to 2 seeded. Seeds bi-convex or plano-convex. 
(Hooker.) 
Uses : — The authors of Phurmacograpliia Indiea write : — “ A 
specimen of the Persian plant kindly furnished to one of us by 
Mr. K. R. Cama of Bombay, was identified at Ivew as E. vulgaris. 
Dried branches of the Huma are still brought from Persia to 
India for use in Parsi ceremonial, and it is considered to have 
medicinal properties. The plant was used by the ancient Arians, 
and is probably the same as the Soma of the Vedas 0 * * 
* T. V. Biektine (Bolnitch. Gaz. Botkina, 1891, No. 19, pp. 
473—476) has brought to notice the use of a decoction of the 
stems and roots of E. vulgaris as a popular remedy for rheuma- 
tism and syphilis in Russia, and of the juice of the berries in 
affections of the respiratory passages. After administering the 
decoction himself in a number of cases of rheumatism, acute and 
chronic, lie comes to the conclusion that the plant is especially 
valuable in acute muscular and articular forms of the disease : the 
pain is relieved, the pulse becomes less rapid and softer, and 
the respiration easier. Within 5 or 6 days the temperature 
becomes normal, the swelling of the joints disappears, and after 
about 12 days’ treatment the patient is, cured. In several cases 
marked diuresis was observed before or about the time that the 
temperature began to decrease ; the drug was also observed to 
improve the digestion and promote the action of the bowels. 
In chronic cases the action of Ephedra was less marked, and 
