Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/614
is believed to neutralise' the miasma of the air and to purify water when boiled like tea with a small quantity of Coix flour and set by to cool before being used. In India Coix can hardly be said to enjoy any reputation for medicinal virtues. The Rev. Dr. Campbell tells us that among the Santals the root is given in strangury and in the menstrual complaint known as silka. Dymock (Veg. Mat. Med.) says the seeds are sold in the drug shops of Bombay under the name of kassgi bij. The Pharmacographia Indica says that the wild form only is used medicinally and that it is considered strengthening and diuretic. (Watt).
The following detailed analysis gives the composition of the grain in 100 parts, as published by Professor Church and subsequently by the Haarlem Museum authorities, by Mr. Hooper of the Indian Museum Report and by Drs. Paton and Dunlop in The Agricultural Ledger No. 6 of 1904 , page 50.
| Professor Church. | Professor Church. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1886 (wild plant). | 1901 (Cultivated grain). | Haarlem Museum, 1901 (cultivated grain). | Indian Museum, 1901-02 (cultivated grain). | Paton and Dunlop, 1904 (wild plant). | |
| Water | 13.2 | 14.8 | 13.91 | 8.00 | 10.74 |
| Albuminoids... | 18.7 | 16.6* | 21.72† | 22.46 | 18.81 |
| Starch | 58.3 | 60.1 | 55.29 | 61.82 | 59.55 |
| Oil | 5.2 | 5.8 | 1.30 | 4.92 | 6.2 |
| Fibre | 1.5 | 0.9 | 1.48 | .70 | 1.28 |
| Ash | 2.1 | 1.8 | 1.79 | 2.10 | 3.40 |
1333. Zea Mays, Linn., h.f.b.i., vii. 102.
Vern : — Makka, Bhutta (H).
Habitat : — Cultivated throughout India.
A tall annual grass. Stems 4-10 ft. high, smooth, striate, solid, the central portion soft and spongy. Leaves numerous, close together ; sheaths large and full, somewhat compressed, auricled at the base, upper part hairy ; ligule short, truncate, torn ; blade of leaf 1-1½ft. long, linear lanceolate, acute, smooth ; midrib prominent below ; margins wavy, ciliate. Flowers unisexual ; spikelets monoecious, 2-flowered ; male spikelets many, arranged in pairs on the spike-like branches of a large terminal drooping panicle ; glumes 2, about equal, tinged with
- 2.66 nitrogen.
† 3.47 nitrogen.