1348 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
matic and carminative, and useful in diarrhoea, asthma and 
other affections caused by deranged phlegm. (U. 0. Dutt.) 
Among the Santals the fruit is applied externally for rheu- 
matism. (Revd. H. Campbell.) 
1321 Rhaphidophora pertusa, Schott ., h.f.b.i., 
vi. 546. 
Syn. S. Pertusus, Schott. Pothos pertusus, Roxb. 145. 
Vern. : — Ganeskanda (Mar.). 
Habitat : — The Dekkan Peninsula ; Coromandal, Malabar ; 
Ceylon rather rare. 
A tall perennial climbing shrub rooting on trees. Stem 
cylindric ljin. diam., green, smooth, leafy for the greater part 
of its length. Leaves 8-18in. long, and 6-10iu. broad ; young 
small, ovate, entire ; old pinnatifid to below the middle or 
perforate, base truncate or subcordate, lobes few, broad, falcate, 
acuminate, primary nerves 5-8 pairs connected by anastomosing 
veinlets. Petiole about as long as the blade deeply channelled, 
young winged, wings not auricled at top, basal sheaths 4-5, 
oblong, obtuse, brown. Spathe shortly stoutly peduncled, yellow, 
5-7in. ovate-oblong or cylindric, cymbiform, acuminate, or 
cuspidate. Spadix sessile, shorter than the spathe, very stout, 
cylindric, fin. diam., top rounded. Flowers hexagonal. 
Stamens 8; filaments very stout, sometimes bifid ; anthers small. 
Ovary G-gonous. Stigma linear, raised on a short stout style. 
(Trimen.) The ovary is 4-angled, stigma sessile, pulvinate, says 
J. D. Hooker. 
A closely allied plant, says Trimen, cultivated in gardens 
always, has perforated leaves. 
Uses : — The juice of the plant with black pepper is given to 
people who are bitten by Kusreyia ghannas ( Daboia russellii, a 
viper), a snake so called because the part bitten by it mortifies. 
The juice, with that of the roots of Croton oblongifolium, and of 
the fruit of Momordica charantia is also applied to the bitten 
part. (Dymock.) 
