1350 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
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Habitat : — Cultivated iu damp, marshy places in India ; 
exceedingly common in Manipur and Naga Hills. 
An aromatic marsh herb. Root-stock creeping, very aroma- 
tic and branching, as thick as the middle finger. Leaves with 
a stout mid-rib, 3-6in. by f-l^in., bright-green, acute, thick- 
ened in the middle, margins waved. Spathe 6-30in. long, 
pedicel (formed often connate pedicels and spathe) l|-liin. 
broad. Peduncle |-fin. broad, leaf-like. Spadix 2-4in. 
by |-|in. diam. obtuse, slightly curved, green. Sepals as long 
as the ovary, scarious. Anthers yellow. Fruit turbinate, pris- 
matic, top pyramidal. 
Uses -. — The aromatic rhizome or root-stock is considered 
emetic in large doses, and stomachic and carminative in smaller 
doses. (U. C. Dutt.) It is a simple useful remedy for flatu- 
lence, colic, or dyspepsia, and a pleasant adjunct to tonic or 
purgative medicines. It is also used in remittent fevers and 
ague by the native doctors, and is held in high esteem 
as an insectifuge, especially for fleas. In Voigt’s Hortus Subur- 
bans Calcuttensis occurs the following (taken from Thomson’s 
Mat. Med.) : “ The root has been employed in medicine since 
the time of Hippocrates. By the moderns it is successfully 
used in intermittent fevers, even after bark has failed, and it is 
cprtainly a very useful addition to Cinchona. It is also a useful 
adjunct to bitter and stomachic infusions.” It is also much 
valued by the Manipuris, especially in the treatment of coughs 
or sore-throats. For this purpose a small piece is chewed for a 
few minu-tes. It contains a bitter principle, acorine aiid an 
alkaloid calamine, useful in dysentery (I. M. G. 1875, p. 39.) 
The root used by the free Indians of Hudson’s Bay territory 
in coughs. Mr. Holmes remarks that “ it is not a little singular 
that there is hardly a country where this plant grows that the 
rhizome is not used in medicine. (Ph. J. Oct. 18, 1884, p. 302.) 
“ In Meerut the rhizome, with bhang and ajowain in equal 
parts, is powdered and used as a fumigation in painful piles.” 
(Surg.-Maj. W. Moir and Asst. Surg. T. N. Ghose, Meerut.) 
“ I found the root extremely useful in the dysentery of children, 
and also in bronchitic affections — vide Ind. Med. Gaz. for 
