Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/276
chutney prepared from the fresh herb is in use all over Bengal. (Dr. Kanai Lai De).
987. Lycopus europœus, Linn, h.f.b.i. iv. 648.
Vern. : — Gandamgúndú ; Jalnim (Kashmir).
Eng. : — Gipsy wort.
Habitat : — Western Himalaya and Kashmir.
Perennial marsh herbs, glabrous or puberulous. Rootstock creeping or stoloniform. Stem l-3ft. Leaves subsessile, elliptic-oblong, sometimes pinnatifid, sinnate-toothed or serrate. Corulla bluish white, dotted with purple, hairy within. Staminodes minute. Nutlets longer than the Calyx-tube.
Use : — Used in the Punjab as a cooling drug (Stewart). The leaves are used externally as a poultice to cleanse foul wounds.
988. Origanum marjorana, Linn., h.f.b.i. iv. 648.
Vern. :— Murwo (Sind) ; Murwa (H.) ; Maroo (Tarn.) ; Ban-tulsi (Kumaon).
Eng. : — Sweet Marjoram.
Habitat : — Extensively cultivated in India.
An aromatic herb, l-2f t. Leaves purplish and white, petioled, ovate-oblong, glaucous.
Uses :— The seeds are officinal, and are considered astringent and a remedy for colic. The leaves are eaten along with Gynandropsis pentaphylla, D. C, as a remedy for colic. An essential oil is also distilled from them, used as a perfurme and for hot fomentations in acute diarrhœa. Aromatic, carminative, and stimulant (Watt).
Chemical composition. — The volatile oil (Oleam marjorance) is thin, yellowish, of the specific gravity 0.89, boils above 163° C, is readily soluble in alcohol, has the aromatic odour of the herb, and, according to Beilstein and E. Wiegand (1882), contains a terpene, boiling at 178° C. and forming a liquid compound with HCI ; the fraction boiling between 200° and 220° C. has the composition C51H620, and is not affected by metallic sodium (Stillé and Maisch.)
989. 0. vulgare, Linn., h.f.b.i. iv. 648.
Vern. : — Mirzanjosh (Pb. and Hind.) ; Mizangosh (Pers.); Sathra (H.); Mridu-maru-vamu (Tel.)