Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/540
Herbs, glabrous or nearly so. Root-stock creeping ; stems 2-3ft., round, arching. Leaves alternate oblong, ovate, 3½-4in. by 1½in., nearly sessile, pointed, sub-bifarious or secund, oblong, by lower surface glaucous, sub-acute. Peduncles 1-5-fid., ½-⅓in. Racemes solitary, axillary, 2-5 flowered. Perianth 1¾in. ; tube white ; lobes green, constricted in the middle; nerves within hairy- Filaments puberulous, inserted above the middle of the tube. Berry globose, ½in. diam., blue, black. Seeds few.
Uses : — The rhizomes are used in Europe as a popular remedy for removing bruises, and discoloration of the skin resulting from blows.
1278. Asphodelus tenuifolius, Cavan., h.f.b.i., vi., 332.
Vern. :— Piázi, bokát (Pb.) ; Binghar-bij (seed) (Pb.)
Habitat: — Abundant as field weed in most parts of the plains of India, from Bengal westward to Gujrat and the Punjab.
An erect, glabrous, annual herb. Leaves radical, linear, 6-12in., slender, terete, fistular, erect, acuminate, 1/12in. diam. Scape smooth or papillosely scaberulous, 6-24in., often much branched. Pedicels jointed below the middle, 1/6-¼in. Flowers bracteate, racemed. Perianth 6-parted, ¼in. long. Segments white, with a red-brownish costa, spreading. Stamens 6, hypogynous, filaments fusiform towards the tip, with bases dilated, concave, closely covering the ovary. Ovary 3-celled; style straight. Stigma 3-lobed, terminal. Ovules 2in. each cell. Capsule globose, 1/6in. diam., horizontally wrinkled. Seeds usually 3, 3-sided. J. D. Hooker remarks : " Wight's figure is very incorrect as regards the filaments ; he is unable to give any locality for the specimen figured, which, he supposes is from the sandy soils of the East Coast of the Deccan."
Uses :- -The seed is officinal at Lahore. It is said to be diuretic.
1279. Chlorophytum arundinaceum, Baker., h.f.b.i., vi., 333.
Vern. : — Saféd musli (H.) ; Ganjagata (Gond).