Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/605

Spikelets often ⅛-1/6in. apart, sessile, diverging, lanceolate, rigid, obtuse. Glumes obtuse, 5-7-nerved. Stamens 2 :— style bifid. Nut longer than half the glume, more or less compressed, not equilaterally trigonous, obcordate, smooth.

Uses:— The tubers are used as a tonic and stimulating melicine. (Irvine.)

Syn. : — C. Pertenuis, Roxb. 66.

Sans. : — Nagar-mustaka.

Vern. : — Nâgar-mothâ (H.) ; Nagar-mutha (B.); Nâgar-motha (Dec); Muttah-kâch (Tam.) ; Tungo-gaddala vîm (Tel.) ; Vomon-niu (Burm.) ; Lawala (Mar.) ; Kora-kizhanna (Mal.); Konuari-gadde (Kan.) ; Soadekâfi (Arab.) ; Mushki zamen (Pers.)

Habitat : — Bengal, Pegu. Common in Sunderban.

Tall, glabrous, stolons slender, ⅓-2 by 1/16in., clothed by elliptic acute lax striate concolorous scales ⅛in. long. Stems 16-36in. long ; at top ½-1/16in. in diam. slender ; triquetrous. Leaves variable, usually short (less than ⅓ stem), sometimes much longer, sometimes 0, narrow, weak. Umbel thin ; rays slender, sometimes up to 3in. long, sometimes not ¼ in.; contracted. Bracts nearly always as the leaves, i.e., hardly any when leaves short, exceeding inflorescence when leaves longish. Spikelets linear pale straw colour. (C. B. Clarke.)

Uses : — The root is officinal, and considered cordial, stomachic, and desiccant, and is used for washing the hair. Also regarded as diaphoretic and diuretic. The root is given in conjunction with Valerian in cases of epilepsy. The root is astringent, useful in diarrhœa. A decoction is used in gonorrhœa and also in syphilitic affections. (Dr. Peacock in Watt's Dic.)

In the Concan, Nâgarmoth, Solanum indicum Tinospora cordifolio, Ginger and Embelic myrobalans, of each 2 tolas, are powdered and divided into 5 parts, and one part taken daily in decoction with a little honey and long pepper as a febrifuge. In dysentry, Nagarmoth, Mocharas, Lodhra, Daitiphul (Woodfordia floribunda flowers), unripe Bael fruit, and the seeds of