Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/457

Vern. : — Chorpatta ; Surat (B.) ; Utigun ka bij (Behar); Moringi (Nepal) ; Sir-nat (Assam) ; Mealum-ma, sunkrong (Lepcha).

Habitat : — Tropical Himalaya, from Sikkim eastwards, Assam, the Khasia Mts., and southwards to Perak ; the Concan.

A large, evergreen shrub, 8-10ft., or a small tree. Wood very soft, separating when dry into concentric, long, fibrous layers. Cystolith cellls conspicuous in the epidermis. Branchlets, petioles and inflorescence armed with stinging hairs of two kinds, minute and long. Branches stout, terete, green. Leaves 9-10in. long, largest, 16 by 12in., ovate or elliptic, crenulate in the upper part or nearly entire ; petiole l-4in. long, with a few long hairs, otherwise glabrous, round, raised, cystolith cells prominent on both surfaces. Stipules ovate, lanceolate. Flowers minute, green, diœcious, in axillary, panicled cymes, longer than petiole, dichotomously branched. Flower clusters remote, often unilateral. Male perianth deeply 4-partite. Female sub-campanulate ; lobes acute. Achenes oblique, 1/6in. diam., seated on the cup-shaped perianth, and crowned by the style. This is the worst of the stinging nettles of India, 'says Gamble. The effects last for many days, says Brandis.

Use : — In Patna, the seeds in doses of ½ dram to ½ Jounce, are used in the same way as coriander. (Irvine.)

Vern :-— Buin, búná, chanár (Pb); Chintar, chinar (Pushtu).

Habitat : — Cultivated in the N.-W Himalaya, from the Sutlej westwards.

A large, deciduous tree. Bark 1/6 in. thick, smooth, light or dark-grey peeling off in thin scales. Wood white, hard, with a faint tinge of yellow or red. Buds densely clothed with long hairs. Branchlets and young leaves with soft, deciduous, tawny