1356 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS, 
Holarrhena antidysent’.rica are ground with whey and molasses 
and given in 6 massa doses. In famine seasons Nagarmoth lias 
proved a valuable resource to the poor. (Dymock). 
1328. C. rotundus, Linn, h.f.b.i., vi. 614. 
Syn. : — C. hexastachyus, Rollb. Roxb. 66. 
Sans. : — Mustagundra, bhadramusti, mustakka, dhanakfita- 
Vern. Musta, barikmoth, kore-ki-jhar (H.) ; Mutha, motha, 
(Beng.); Batha-bijir (Mundari); Utrubanda, (Uraon) ; Tandi-sura 
(Santal) ; Bimbal (Mar.) ; Motha (Guz.) ; Koraikilangu, tulam, 
(lam.); tunga-muste, mustakamu, (Tel.); koranari gadde, 
tungahullu (Kan); Kalanduru (Sing ). 
Habitat:— A very common and troublesome weed in Ceylon. 
A pestiferous weed all over India. The tubers yield a perfume. 
Perennial herbs flowering all the year. Rootstock small, 
tuberous, stolon iferous. Stolons elongate, slender, bearing 
ovoid, hard, tunicate, black, fragrant tubers J-lin. diam. root- 
fibres wiry, covered with flexuous root-hairs. Stems subsolitary, 
6-24in., slender, trigonous below, triquetrous above, base some- 
times tuberous. Leaves subradical, shorter or longer than 
the stem, narrowly linear, l-Jin. broad, finely acuminate, or 
narrowed from the middle to both ends, flat, flaccid, 1-veined. 
Umbel simple or compound, primary rays 2-8, unequal, very 
slender, bearing short spikes of 4-10 slender spreading red- 
brown spikelets (inflorescence sometimes, contracted into a 
head/; bracts 3, longest up to 7in. ; spikelets £-1 by ^in., 
linear, acute, slightly compressed, 10-20-fid; pale or dark 
red-brown ; rhachilla very slender, wings elliptic ; glumes about 
TS-tain., closely or loosely imbricate, suberect, ovate, obtuse, 
dorsally green, hardly keeled, streaked with red-brown, 5-7- 
veined, sides broadly membranous, margins and tip narrowly 
8carious ; stamens 3, anthers long, narrow muticous. Nut •§■ 
the length of the glume, obovoid or oblong, obtuse, trigonous, 
black, opaque, granulate, style shorter than the nut. Stigmas 
three, capilarry. (Trimen.) 
Uses: — Roots are used medicinally as a diaphoretic and 
astringent. Stimulant and diuretic properties are also attributed 
to them. They are further described as vermifuge. In native 
