Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/297

Calyx pale below, not striate above, toothing variable, sometimes spinescent, ¼-⅓in., obovoid, glabrous or puberulous, mouth very oblique, contracted, glabrous within upper lip, projecting, acute 3-toothed, lower 2-fid.

Use : — The natives of Central India believe that the leaves, when roasted and eaten with salt, have febrifugal properties (Duthie).

Syn. : — Phlomis nepetæfolia, Linn. Roxb. 461.

Vern. :— Hejur-chei (H.); Dare dhompo, janum dhompo (Santal) ; Máti-jer, mátisul (Guz.). Dipmal, Ekri. (Mar.) ; Rana bheri, beri, mulu golimidi, hanumanta bira (Tel.).

Habitat :— Throughout hotter India, from the Punjab to Travancore.

A tall, herbaceous annual 4-6ft. Stem as thick as the finger, 4-angled with concave faces, puberulous. Leaves 4-8 by 2-5in., membranous ovate, crenate, floral lanceolate, deflected. Bracts spinescent, winged, linear, deflexed. Petiole l-3in. winged above, slender. Whorls distinct, globose, 2-3in. diam., squarrose. Calyx ½-lin. ribbed and reticulate, pubescent or villous, tubular incurved ; teeth spinescent, upper lip prominent rigid, ¼ in. long. Lower with three erect spinescent rigid teeth. Throat glabrous. Corolla orange-red, lin. long, tube slender, exserted, villous like the upper lip, lower lip minute. Nutlet linear-oblong, widening upward, truncate.

Uses : — In Chutia Nagpur, the ash produced by burning the flower-buds is applied to burns and scalds (Revd. A. Campbell). In Bombay, the ashes of the flower-heads mixed with curds is applied to ringworm and other itchy diseases of the skin. Dr. A. J. Amadeo states that it is called Rascamono in Porto-Rico, and that a decoction of the leaves is used as a tonic, the juice is also expressed and taken with lime juice and rum as a febrifuge. Dr. Amadeo has used it in combination with Phyllanthus Niruri in intermittents. (Dymock.)