Indian Medicinal Plants/Natural Order Loranthaceæ

Vern. : — Turâpâuli (Afg.) ; Bhangrâ, bândâ, bamba, kahbang (Pb.) ; Bambal, wahal, ahalû (Pb.) ; Dibk (Arab.) ; Ban, banda ​ (H.); Chûlü-Kâ-Bânda (Jaunsar); Hurchu (Nepal) ; Perbika (Rawalpindi).

Habitat :— Temperate Himalaya, from Kashmir to Nepal.

A large, parasitic, leafy shrub, green all over. Branches dichotomous or whorled, jointed, terete. Leaves about 2 by 2/5in., sessile, very coriaceous, cuneate, oblong or oblanceolate, with 3 to 5 longitudinal basal nerves. Flowers dioecious, sessile in clusters of 3 to 5, supported by concave bracts. Perianth-segments 3-4, triangular, deciduous. Fruit 1/5-3/10in. long, ellipsoid, white, smooth, almost transparent. Chiefly on rosaceous shrubs, such as apricot and on elm, walnut and willows. ( U. Kanjilal.) Bird lime is made of the viscid pulp of the fruit. The parasite is also found on the Alder, Maple, Poplar, Olive and Mulberry. ( Gamble. ) Embryos sometimes 2-3in. each ; seed, terete, in fleshy albumen.

Uses : — Mr. Honigberger states that it is given by the Hakims in enlargement of the spleen, in cases of wound, tumour, diseases of the ear, etc. The dried berries imported into Bombay under the name of Kishmish-i-kâwuliyân (vulg., Kishmish-kawli) are probably obtained from this plant. The plant is used as a medicine in Lahoul. (Stewart.)

It contains a liquid volatile base, C₈H₁₁N, with an odour resembling that of nicotine or of coniine. It forms a crystalline sulphate, a very deliquescent crystalline hydrochloride, and a more stable platino-chloride ( C₈H₁₁N, Hcl) ₂ Ptcl₄, in yellowish, shining, micaceous scales, darkening at 230 °C, and melting, with decomposition, at about 250° C. The base is extracted from the dry plant by means of 95 per cent, alcohol, acidified with 1 per cent, of hydro-chloric acid. After distilling off the solvent, the residual extract is made alkaline with sodium carbonate and distilled. The alkaline distillate is saturated with sulphuric acid, evaporated in vacuo, and the sulphate of the alkaloid crystallised in the usual manner. It also contains a viscachoutin, viscic acid, a glucoside, and a resinoid substance. (J. Ch. I. Jan. 31, 1908, p. 88.)

Vern. :— Kuchle-kâ-malang (Hind.); Kuchlê-kî-sonkan (Dec); Pullurivi (Tel.); Uchchichedi, Kâmaricham ; Pulluri (Tam.) ; Kâsarakana-bandanige (Kan.); Pet chamra banda (Santal) ​ Habitat : — Sikkim Himalaya ; Khasia Mts.; Ganges Delta; Oudh ; Nilghiri or Kurg hills.

A large, parasitic shrub. Branches dichotomous, leafy, terete, slightly swollen at the nodes. Leaves rather thin and usually drying black, l-5in. long, very variable in breadth, petioled, obliquely ovate or falcate, acute or acuminate, 3-5 nerved ; nerves often strong. Flowers monoecious, in axillary, sessile or shortly peduncled fascicles, l-3in., minute, greenish ; the lateral usually female, central male or absent, sometimes appearing spicate from terminating leafless shoots, deciduous. Bracts cuspidate. Perianth-lobes 3 or 4, triangular oblong. Fruit oblong, of the size of a pea (¼-½in. long), truncate, smooth, yellowish ( Kurz ), " blackish-brown " ( Brandis

Mr. Duthie writes in his Flor. Up. Gang. PI., FIT. p. 65—

The Bundelkhand specimens collected by Edgeworth near Banda on Zizyphus xylopyrus and Bassia latifolia indicate a more robust habit of growth. The leaves are much broader and excessively coriaceous, and the light-brown colour to which they have dried, gives them a different aspect as compared with typical specimens from other localities in N. India. Trimen says, that in Ceylon the plant dries to a pale yellowish-brown colour. Sir Joseph Hooker was of opinion that the Banda plant might prove to be a different species. The only available material now at Kew is, however, insufficient to settle this point.

Uses : — The leaves of a viscum, doubtfully referred to this species, growing on Nux-Vomica trees in the neighbourhood of Cuttack, have been found to possess poisonous properties, similar to those of the tree on which it grows. The subject was investigated by Sir William O'Shaughnessy, who detected in the powdered leaves the presence of strychnine and brucine.

The powder of the dry leaf was used as a substitute for these drugs in the Hospital of the Medical College, Calcutta with complete success, in doses of one to three grains thrice daily. (Bengal Disp.)

Vern.:— Banda (H., Santal. and Kol.) ; Gurbel (Gond) ; Sundara badinika (Tel.). ​ Habitat. :— Behar, Bengal and Travancore.

A rather much-branched, leafy shrub, black or brown when dry. Branches often very slender, terete or angled and grooved, opposite and whorled ; branchlets angular. Leaves rarely more than one inch, often unequal, petioled ; from obovate to elliptic-oblong and linear-oblong, obtuse, 3-5-nerved, base narrowed, or rounded. Flowers minute, under 1/10in. long, rarely more than 5, in sessile or peduncled clusters, monœious. Perianth usually 3-cleft, Perianth-lobes deciduous. Fruit of the size of a pea, smooth (Kurz), " purple," copiously minutely dotted (W. and A).

Use. — In Chutia Nagpur, this plant is largely used medicinally, and is believed to derive some particular property from the tree on which it is found. It is employed in as many different diseases as the trees on which it is found. (Campbell.)

Vern.: — Pan, pûdû (H.) ; Katkom janga (Santal) ; Hurchu (Nepal) ; Patha (Banda) ; Banda (C. P.) ; Harmore (Thana)

Habitat: — Sub-tropical Himalaya, from Chamba to Sikkim, also Assam, Mishmi, Khasia mountains, southwards to Travancore.

A much-branched, leafless, green parasitic shrub, forming pendulous tufts Gin. to 3ft. long ; greenish-yellow when dry. Main stem terete. Branches flat, longitudinally striate, and furrowed, contracted at the nodes, internodes, widening upwards, l-2in. long. Flowers sessile, in sessile, 3-flowered spikes ; two or several spikes at a joint. Perianlh of male flowers reflexed. Female flowers 2-bracteolate, the perianth-lobes erect, triangular. Fruit sub-globose, 1/6in. long, yellow when ripe, sessile, in clusters of 4-5 at the nodes, each fruit supported by a shallow cup-shaped bract. Found on Cordia vestita, Cornus capitata, Pyrus, albizzia stipulate, Albizzia amara (Mahableshwar, Pratapgad Road).

Uses:— In Chutia Nagpur, a preparation from the plant is given in fever attended with aching limbs. The many joints in the plant have probably influenced the Santal ojhas in their ​application of it. It is probably one of the many cases of the use of a remedy from a belief in the theory of signatures (Revd. A. Campbell.)

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