1316 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
by |-lin. ; common petiole at base f-lin. broad ; the fascicles of 
leaflets up to 3in. apart. Spathe 12-14in., scurfy. Spadices 
erect, fruiting inclined, with spreading branches. Branches of 
male filiform. Male inflorescence, says Brandis, “ white, scented, 
compact, on short peduncle.” Fruiting peduncle 2-2^ft. long, 
1-lsft. wide, terminating in large branches of spikes ; spathe 
thick, almost woody. Fruit l-ljin. long, yellow while ripening, 
reddish-brown when fully ripe, then sweet pulp around the 
terete ; stony hard seed — seed ventrally grooved — in long 
embryo, ventral. 
Use s : — The fruit, pounded and mixed with almonds, quince 
seeds, pistachio nuts, spices and sugar forms a paushtik, or 
restorative remedy, much in vogue. A paste, formed of kernels 
and the root of the Achryanthes aspera, is eaten with betel leaves 
as a remedy for ague. (Dymock.) The juice obtained from the 
tree is considered a cooling beverage. The central tender part 
is used in gonorrhoea and gleet. The root is used in tooth-ache. 
From the tree a gum is obtained, of which very little is known. 
1301. NannorliopsRitchieana, U. Wendl., H.F.B.I., 
vi., 429. 
Vern . : — Mazri, nozarai (Trans.-Indus) ; Kiltr, kalium (Salt 
Range) ; Pfis, pesh, pharra (Sind and Beluch.) ; Maizurrye 
(Pushtu). 
Habitat: — Sindh, Afghanistan, Baluchistan and the Western 
Punjab. 
A gregarious, tufted, low-growing, glabrous palm, with 
prostrate branching, robust rhizomes or stems, 8-10ft. long, as 
thick as a man’s arm, dichotomously branched, covered with 
the old leaf sheaths. Leaves 2-4ft. long and broad, whitish, split 
to the middle or lower into rigid segments, with often interposed 
fibres. Petiole unarmed, 6-1 2in. ; margins serrulate. Spadix 
pyramidal, 2-3ft. Branches ascending and recurved. Branchlets 
slender. Flowers in pair within a membranous spathella, one 
sessile, bracteate, the other pedicelled or bracteate. Flowers 
polygamous, male and bisexual in a large, erect, pyramidal, 
