1282 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
N. 0. DIOSCOREACE^E. 
1266. Dioscorea pentaphylla, Linn., h.f.b.i., 
vi. 289. 
Vern. : — Manda (Mar.) ; Ts-iagri-nuren (Mai.) ; Shendurvel 
(Bomb.); Padimuskir (Gond) ; Pandigada (Tel.). 
Habitat : — Throughout tropical India. 
Herbs, with large tuberous root-stocks. Root tubers 5-6ft. 
long. Stem slender, glabrous, more or less prickly, especially 
towards the base, often tuberiferous in the leaf axils. Leaves 
alternate, 3-5-foliolate glabrous, or sparsely pubescent beneath. 
Petiole, l-4in. ; leaflets 2-6in., shortly petiolate, oval, obovate or 
lanceolate, acuminate, cuspidate or subcaudate, membranous ; 
base acute, lateral oblique at the base. Male flowers in very 
slender racemes, ljin. long, which are solitary or binate on a 
very slender, flexuous tomentose rhachis, 6-12in. long. Bracts 
very broad, apiculate, membraneous, much shorter than the 
flowers. Perianth about j^in. diam. ; segments glabrous or 
sparsely pubescent, broadly ovate, obtuse. Stamens 3 ; anthers 
subsessile ; staminodes 3, minute ; pistillode -3-lobed. Female 
flowers in axillary, flexuous, pendulous, tomentose spikes, 2-6in. 
long. Perianth segments broader than in the male. Staminodes 
3, minute. Stigmas spreading, linear ; fruit f-lin. long, quad- 
rately oblong, retuse at both ends, glabrous ; seeds |in. long, 
wing terminal, longer and broader than the short, oblique 
nucleus. Flowers pale greenish, fragrant tubers edible. (Tri- 
men). 
Uses : — The tubers are sometimes used to disperse swellings. 
(Dymock.) Also used as a tonic. 
1267. D. oppositi folia, Linn., h.f.b.i., vi., 292 ; 
Roxb. 730. 1 
Vern. : — Mdr-paspoli (Bomb.) ; Piska (Santali) ; Aretige, 
tegalu, avatenga tige (Tel.) ; Girs konda, sut konda (Gond). 
Habitat: — Tropical India, from Assam, Silhet and Chitta- 
gong, southwards to Ceylon. 
