Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/253
chettu, písangi, pisingha, tak-kolapu-chettu, nalla-kupi, erupichecha eti-pisi-nika, peunika, eru puchcha (Tel.). Vishamadhâri, Kundali (Kan) ; Nirvochchi (Mal).
Habitat : — India and Ceylon, near the sea, from Bombay to Tenasserim.
A straggling almost scandent evergreen shrub, 3-7ft. Young shoots minutely grey-pubescent. Leaves opposite, rarely ternate, dark green, ¾-1½in. entire elliptic or ovate, nearly coriaceous, base cuneate young somewhat grey pubescent. Petiole 1/6-⅓in. long. Flowers showy white, in axillary pedunculate 3-9-fid. cymes. Bracts 1/30in. linear, pedicels ⅓-½in. Calyx grey puberulous or glabrate. Corolla tube ¾in. long, ⅓in. broad, pear-shaped, spongy hardly succulent, smooth hardly sulcate. Separating into 4 long woody pyrenes.
Uses : — Ainslie says the juice of the leaves and root is considered alterative in scrofulous and veneral affections, the dose being a tablespoonful with or without a little castor oil. Rheede speaks of the use of the dried leaves for the same purpose, and of a poultice, of the leaves to resolve buboes ; he also says a bath prepared with them is used in mania, while the root boiled in oil affords a liniment useful in rheumatism. The Malays and Macassars administer the berries or the root to people poisoned by eating unwholesome fish ; the leaves smeared with oil are heated over the fire and applied to recent wounds ; they are also one of the leaves used for preparing the green rice of the Malays. In Bombay the plant has a great reputation as a febrifuge ; the juice of the leaves is used in doses of half an ounce. It is mucilaginous, very bitter, somewhat saline, and with a fragrant, apple-like odour.
The medicinal properties of C. inerme closely resemble those of Chiretta. The dried leaves have been found to be quite as efficient as the juice of the fresh plant ; they should be dried in the shade to preserve their aroma, and may be administered in decoction with aromatics, or powdered and made into pills. A tincture has also been found to be an efficient preparation. — (Dymock).