1200 
INWAX MliWOINAf. PLANTS. 
kadalamu (Tel.) ; Bale; bale -mini (Kan ); Villa, vazhap-pagham, 
vellacoi, pizaug (Mai.). 
Habitat : — Cultivated throughout India. 
Root-stock stoloniferous. Stem subarboroscent of convo- 
lute leaf-sheaths, eylindrie, erect, 8-1 2 ft. r leaves very stoutly 
petioled, 4-5ft., oblong, bright-green above, paler beneath ; 
midrib channelled ; veins horizontal. Spike decurved, usually 
about 2ft.-3ft., very rarely as long as the leaf, glabrous; 
peduncle about ljin. diam., below the inflorescence green, 
glabrous. Bracts large, many-fid, spathiform, bright to dark 
crimson. Male bracts 6 by 2|in., ovate, oblong-obtuse ; deciduous ; 
male flowers very many in each bract, ljin. long, nearly white. 
Calyx tubular, slit to the base in front, d-toothed teeth, recurved ; 3 
outer larger, yellowish-white. Calyx lobes ovate, acute. Corolla 
a single, convex, membranous petal, opposite the slit of the calyx, 
embracing the base of the stamens and style. Petal about 
half as long as the calyx, i.e., J-fin. ; tip rounded ; stamens 
d, (rudimentary or 0) ; Anther Jin-, obtuse, 2-celled. Stigma 
clavate, tip constricted, trirncate. Fruit 4in. long, obovate- 
oblong, slightly curved, suddenly constricted at the apex and 
at the base into a stout pedicel, 4 -Jin., long, obtusely 3-5 angled, 
golden yelhnv, sweet, pulpy when ripe. Seedless in cultivated 
form ; full of many seeds in the wild form. Seeds about Jin. 
diam., subglobose, angled by pressure tubereted ; testa brownish- 
black, crustaceous, rugose, Jin. diam. 
Uses: — The unripe fruit, called mocliaka in Sanskrit, is 
considered cooling and astringent ; it is much used in diabetes 
in the form of a ghrita, composed of plantain flowers, rootstock, 
and unripe fruits, ghi, cloves, cardamoms, and several other 
drugs. This medicine is generally prescribed in doses of two 
tolas along with some preparation of tin or other metallic drug. 
(D. C. Dutt.) Young plantain leaves are used as a cool dressing 
for blisters, burns, &c., and to retain the moisture of water 
dressings. They may also be used as a green shade in ophthal- 
mia and other eye diseases. • The root and stem are considered 
tonic, anti-scorbutic, and useful in “disorders of the blood ” and 
venereal disease. Emerson states that the sap forms a A’aluable 
