1271 
X. O. IRIDE>:.. 
fertile cell, with 2 minute imperfect cells at the base, dark- 
orange colour. Seed solitary, broadly ovoid, white ; albumin 
horny. 
Usex : — It is described as purgative, heavy, sweet, pungent, 
tonic, and cardiacal ; a remedy for bile, heat of blood, gonor- 
rhoea, tridosha (a corruption of the three humors), thirst, heart, 
disease, itch, leprosy, fever, rheumatism, arfd glandular enlarge- 
ments. 
Ainslie (Mat. lnd. ii) remarks— 
“This fleshy creeping root is, in a slight degree, warm to 
the taste, and of a not unpleasant odour; and is prescribed, 
by the native practitioners, in the form of an electuary, in 
consumptive complaints and coughs of long standing, to the 
quantity of a small tea-spoonful twice daily. The juice of the 
tender shoots of tho plants they administer to children to clear 
their throats of viscid phlegm. The plant is cultivated in 
great abundance at Cumbum, and on the Vursenand Mountains 
in the Dindigul district.” (Pharmacogr. Ind. Vol. 111., p. 493.) 
N. 0. IRIDEvE. • 
1255. Iris cnscita, Thunb., h.k.h.i., vi., 272. 
Vern. : — Irisa, sosun (II.) ; Tesma (Bhoto) ; Krishun, unarjal, 
marjal (Kashmir). 
Habitat : — Common on the temperate N.-W Himalaya and 
Kashmir, in damp places; often grows in gardens. 
Root-stock stout, prostrate and creeping. Stems tufted, short, 
or 1 Jr 2ft., stout or slender ; sheaths fibrous. Leaves l-2ft. 
by i-£in., linear, rigid, grooved, glaucous. Spathes 3-4in., 
1-3-fid ; valves lanceolate, green. Flowers pedicelled, lilac. 
Perianth tube 0. Sepals neither crested nor bearded, blade 1J-2 
by £-£in. rhomboidly ovate, obtuse, entire, shorter than the 
claw. Petals oblanceolate, erect, £in. broad. Ovary lin., 
cylindric style ; arms lin. linear ; tip acutely 2-fid, crests large, 
deltoid. Capsule l£-3in. by £-|in., C-ribbed, beaked, ribs 
rounded. (J. P. Hooker.) 
