1394 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
FUNGI. 
1372. Agaricus campestris, Linn. 
Vem.: — Alombe, khumba (Bom.) ; Kagdana chhatra (Guj.); 
Kuti lenbha, Khumba (Sind). Bheoephore (Pb) ; M&nskhel 
(Kashmir) ; Moksha (Chamba) ; Khfimbah, shambfir, chattri 
(Afg. Bazar names) ; Kumbh samarogh (Stewart) ; Herar, 
poisonous forms. 
Habitat : — Abundant in fields in many parts of India, especi- 
ally in the Panjab. Very largely prevalent in the Thana district, 
Salsette Island near Bombay. (K.R.K.) 
Pileus 3-6 inches across, globose, then convexoplane, dry, 
silky, floccose or squamulose, white becoming reddish-brown 
when cut, giles free but rather close to the stem, £-§■ inch 
broad pink then flesh-colour, finally blackish-brown, sub- 
deliquescent ; stem 3-4 inches long, f-1 inch thick, subequal, 
white stuffed, ring median persistent, more or less torn. Spores 
purple-brown, elliptic, 7-9 by 6 inches. 
Use. — The small dried mushrooms are officinal in the Panjab 
and are sold as “ Mokshai,” being regarded as alterative. 
1373. Boletus Nitus Arto-carpalis, K. B. Kirtikar. 
Vem. : — Phanasa-alombe, or vulgarly phansamba. 
Habitat: — Is common on old jack trees in Bombay. 
Uses.: — It is ground to a paste with water and applied to the 
gums in cases of excessive salivation. It appears to have much 
the same properties as amadon, and to be a useful styptic. It 
is also given internally in dysentery and diarrhoea, and applied 
to the mouths of children suffering from aphtha; (Dymock.) 
In form this fungus resembles the hoof of a horse. Externally it is of a rich 
orange-brown colour when fresh, and has a sweetish, styptic taste, but when 
long kept it turns to a dull brown colour. The fungus consists of a number 
of lamina; upon the under surface of which the hymenium is situated. 
Colonel E. K. Kirtikar wrote the followiug note published at p. 73 of the 
First Volume of the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society : — 
“ The fungus described by Dr. Dymock in his Vegetable Materia Medica 
of Western India (p. 704, 1st Edition) * is called Phanasamba in Marathi and 
* P. 81)8, 2nd Edition, and p. 
