Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/506

Uses : — The seeds are stimulant and carminative, and are useful in all the affections in which the common cardamoms are indicated. They are also of great service in relieving tormina and tenesmus, and even frequency of motions, in some cases of dysentery, and, for this purpose, they must always be used in powder with butter. They are administered in simple powder and compound tincture, the latter being prepared in the same way as the Tincture Cardamom Co. of the Pharmacopœia of India. Dose of the powder, from 20 to 40 grains, and of the tincture, from 3i to 3ii. (Moodeen Sheriff, Khan Bahadur, Madras.)

Sans. : — Brihat upa kunchikâ ; Ela.

Vern. :— Barí-iláchí (H.) ; Bara-elách (B.) ; Elachi, elcho, moto-iláchi (Guj.); Mote-veldode (Mar.) ; Periyaelakkáy, káttu- elak-káy (Tam.) ; Peddaelakáyalu, adaviyela-káya (Tel.) ; Doddá- elakkí (Kan.) ; Perelam, periya-elattari (Mal.).

Habitat : — Eastern Himalayas.

Root-stock perennial, widely creeping. Leafy stem 3-lft. Leaves l-2ft. by 3-4in., green, glabrous on both surfaces, oblong, lanceolate. Spike globose, very dense, shortly peduncled, 2-3in. ; bracts red-brown, outer ones lin., ovate, obtuse, with a horny cusp, inner shorter and obtuse. Calyx and corolla-tube lin. ; segments subulate, shorter than the tube. Lip obovate, cuneate, emarginate, yellowish-white, rather longer than the corolla-segments. Filaments very short, anther-crest entire, small, truncate. Capsule densely echinate, lin., globose, red- brown.

Uses : — The seeds yield a medicinal oil. It is an agreeable, aromatic stimulant.

" It acts as a stomachic, and is said to allay irritability of the stomach produced either by cholera or some other affections. The decoction of cardamom is used as a gargle in affections of the teeth and gums. In combination with the seeds of melons