Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/248

minute round glands (C. B. Clarke). Petiole ¼in. Racemes l-2in., bracts 1/6in. caducous. Calyx 1/6in., tomentose, but with large bare glands. Corolla l½in., tomentose with glabrous glands. Drupe ¾in., long ovoid or obovoid 1-2-seeded.

Use : — Used for rheumatism, pains in the loins, and syphilitic diseases. It was known to the Portuguese under the name Rais Madre de Deas. The root was in great request in Goa as an antidote to every poison, and a remedy for every disease in former days. The roots are slightly bitter, astringent, and aromatic (Dymock). It is regarded by the Hindu doctors as a demulcent and alterative. " The leaves and young shoots of this shrub abound with a thick, viscid mucilage, which is imparted readily to cold water, which, when thus impregnated, is employed by the natives in the treatment of gonorrhœa to allay ardour urinae " (Pharm. Ind.). At the present time the root is principally employed as a demulcent for gonorrhœa and catarrh of the bladder (Watt).

Sans.:— Sindhuvára ; Sindhuka.

Vern.— Nishinda (B.) ; Pani-ki-sanbhálu, sambhalus (H.); Nirnochi (Tam.) ; Vavilli (Tel.) ; Lingoor (Mar.) ; Páni-ki-Sambhâlû (Dec.) ; Nira-lakki-gida (Kan.).

Habitat : — Scattered throught out India, in the tropical and sub-tropical region, from the foot of the Himalaya to Ceylon, nowhere common.

A shrub or small tree. Shoots hairy or tomentose. Leaves, opposite, 3-often 1-foliate. Leaflets sessile, pleasantly aromatic l-3in., obovate or ovate oblong sub-obtuse entire, glabrate above ; beneath tomentum of matted, scarcely stellate hairs, so close as with difficulty to be scraped off. Petiole lin. Panicles terminal penultimate axillary, closely white tomentose ; l-4in. oblong, often leafy at the base ; bracts minute, peduncles often added. Calyx ⅛-1/6in ; cup-shaped minutely 5-toothed. Corolla tomentose, lavender to blue, ⅓-½in., small tubular. Stamens 4, didynamous. Filaments hairy at the base. Drupe -1/5in. diam., black.