1358 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
1330. Scirpus grossus, Linn., h.f.b.i., vi. 659 ; 
Roxb. 77. 
Sana. : — Kaseruk. 
Vern : — Kaseru ; (EL), kesur (B.; ; Kasara (M.); Kaserudiln, 
(Pb.) ; Gunda tinga gaddi (Tel.). 
Habitat : — Throughout India. Very common in the Konkan, 
principally Salsette (Tbana marshes). (K.R.K.). 
A very large annual aquatic or marshy herb. Rootstock 
stout, with thick root fibres, stoloniferous or not. Stem 6-1 6 ft., 
as thick as the little finger, triquetrous, spongy, angles smooth, 
sides concave. Leaves few, radical, 2-3 ft. long by ,in. broad, 
triquetrous, finely acuminate, coriaceous, margins smooth or 
scaberulous. Sheath long, open. Spikelets |-Jin.; globose or 
globosely ovoid, dark brown, in large corymbiform decompound 
terminal open or contracted umbels 3-8in. diam. rays rigid, 
erect or spreading, upto 5in. long. Rhachilla slender. Bracts 
very large, upto 3ft. by J-fin. broad at the base, flat, leaf-like, 
margins scaberulous. Glumes rather loosely imbricate, mem- 
branous, orbicular, T gin. diam. concave, almost hemispheric, 
slenderly keeled above the middle, -tip rounded ; hypogynous 
bristles, 6, or fewer, unequal, retrosely scabrid. Stamens 3, 
anthers linear, sub-acute. Nut T Vn.. obovoid, trigonous, dark 
brown or black, shining, tip conical, style slender, stigmas 3. 
(Trimen.) 
Uses: — The root has astringent properties, and is given in 
diarrhoea and vomiting. (Dymock.) If in addition to its value 
as a delicate article of food it is really useful in diarrhoea a 
congee made of it with milk will be a very suitable form of 
nourishment in diarrhoea and vomiting. I can bear testimony 
to its bland and soothing properties. (K. R. K.) 
Kesur is used to remove the taste of medicine from the 
mouth. It is chewed also for the purpose of checking sickness. 
I have often seen it used but I cannot say whether- it acts 
beneficially. (Dr. R. L. Dutt in Watt’s Die.) 
