N. 0. FLAQELLARIEiE. 
1309 
1295. C. axillaris, Rcern et Schultes, h.f.b.i., vi., 
388, Roxb. 280. 
Syn. Tradeseantia axillaris, Linn. 116. 
Vern . : — Nirpulli Tam.); Soltraj, baghanulla (H.) ; Itsaka 
(Bomb.); Golagandi (Tel.). 
Habitat : — Throughout Tndia, in the plains, from the Upper 
Gangetic Valley to Assam, Ceylon low country. 
Annual herbs, with stems 6-18in., stout or slender, elongate, 
glabrous or sparsely hairy, diffusely branched, leafy. Branches 
sub-erect and creeping below or prostrate; internodes l-3in.; roots 
fibrous. Leaves sessile, 2-6 by J-Jin., narrowly linear or linear- 
lanceolate, acute or acuminate, flat, glabrous or hairy ; sheath 
Lain., mouth ciliate. Cymes reduced to axillary fascicles of 
flowers, with the small, linear or linear-lanceolate bracteoles, 
almost concealed in the leaf sheaths. Flowers bright-violet-blue. 
Sepal Jin., spathulately lanceolate, acuminate, sparingly. hairy. 
Corolla petal long-clawed ; tube Jin. long ; lobes small, rounded ; 
filaments fusiform below the tip. Style bearded, glabrous. 
Capsule a-ifin. long, shortly stipilate, long-beaked, quite glab- 
tous ; beak half as long as . the body. Seeds large, up to loin, 
long, oblong, compressed or ventrally concave, brown, shining, 
cancellate, with shallow pits. 
Uses : — On the Malabar Coast, this is viewed as a useful 
remedy in tympanites. (Rheede). It was one of the plants 
brought to Dr. Buchanan Hamilton while in Behar, as a useful 
medicine for external application in cases of ascites, especially 
when mixed with a little oil. (Ainslie.) 
Lyon found the seeds to have the following percentage composition:— 
Water 10'29, fat 0 62, albuminoids 16 99, carbohydrates 2479, cellulose 9-36, 
ash 8-89. The nitrogen was estimated at 11'28 grains per oz„ and the nutritive 
caroon at 145'80 per oz. He calculates the nutritive value of the seeds as 
compared with the average cereal at lOO'OO to be 8676, (Pharmacogr. 
Tud., III. 610.) 
N. O. FLAGELLARIErE. 
1296. Flagellaria indica, Linn., h.f.b.i., vi. 391. 
Habitat : — Throughout India, chiefly near the coast, from the 
Snnderbuns and Chittagong to Ceylon and Singapore. 
