Indian Medicinal Plants/Natural Order Zygophylleæ
N. 0. ZYGOPHYLLEÆ.
204. Tribulus terrestris, Linn. h.f.b.i., i. 423.
Syn. : — T. lanuginosus, Linn.
Habitat: — Throughout India; the warmer countries Ceylon. Throughout the globe.
Sans. : — Gokshur, Gokantak, Laghu Gokshur, Ikshugandha.
Vern : — Gokshri, hussak (H.) ; Gokhru (B.) ; Trikundree (Sind); Bhakhra(Pb.); Kânte Ghokrú (Dec); Sarâte (M.) Nerunji (Tam.); Palleru-mullu (Tel.) Nerinnil (Mal.) ; Lahna gokroo (Bomb.)
Vern. Trimen : — (Sinhalese) Sembu-Nerinchi ; (Tamil) Chira-nerinchi ;
J. Indraji : — (Porebunder and Guj.) Mithâ Gokhru, bethâ gokhru, Nahana Gokhru, Gokhru ; (Hindi) Chhota Gokhru :
Annual or perennial, with numerous long, prostrate, more or less hairy or hispid branchlets ; " herbs hirsute or silky hairy," as Edgeworth and Hooker say. Common in sandy ground. Branches 1-2ft. Leaves opposite. The pair usually unequal ; pinnate, with 3-6 pair of opposite, usually sessile leaflets. Leaflets ¼-½in., 5-7 pair, subequal, mucronate, oblong, white and silky beneath, slightly silky above. Stipules lanceolate, acute ; peduncles shorter than the leaves, slender. Flowers bright yellow, ½-¾in. diam., solitary, axillary, or leaf-opposed. Sepals linear, acute. Petals rounded, longer than sepals, fugacious. Ovary bristly ; style stout, short. Fruit of (usually) 5, hairy or nearly glabrous, woody cocci, each with 2 pair of stiff sharp spines, forming a more or less spherical, spiny ball. Of the two pair of spines, one pair is long and one short. The cocci are very variable. Stigmatic lobes larger than the diameter of the styles.
Parts used : — The entire plant, and especially the fruit and leaves.
Uses : — In Hindoo Medicine, the fruits are regarded as cooling, diuretic, tonic and aphrodisiac, and are used in painful micturition, calculous affections, urinary disorders and impotence. They form one of the ten ingredients which constitute the Dashamûla of the Hindoo physicians (Dutt).
They are considered astringent, and Belle w states that they are taken by women to ensure fecundity, and an infusion of the stems taken for gonorrhœa (Stewart).
In the Gujrat district of the Punjab, it is used in diseases of the kidneys, suppression of urine, also in cough and diseases of the heart (Ibbetson).
In South of Europe, it is used as an aperient and diuretic. (O'Shaughnessy).
In Southern India, the fruit is highly valued as a diuretic. In many cases where this has been tried, the result was quite perceptible in the increase of the urinary secretion. There is another method of administration, in which the fruit and the root boiled with rice to form a medicated water, which is taken in large quantities (Ph. Ind.)
According to Moodeen Sheriff, the fruit and leaves are demulcent, diuretic and useful in cases of strangury, gleet and chronic cystitis. He recommends a decoction and the fresh juice of the leaves.
An infusion made from the fruit has been found very useful as a diuretic in gout, kidney disease and gravel ; also used largely in the Panjab as an aphrodisiac (F. F. Perry, in Watts' Dictionary).
205. T. alatus, Delile. h.f.b.i , i. 423.
Vern. : — Nindo-trikund, gokhuri-kalan (H.); Lotak, bakhra, hasak (Pb.) ; Latak (Sind).
Habitat: — Sindh and Punjab, at Multan. A villous and hispid annual. Branches procumbent or ascending. Leaves stipulate, opposite, usually unequal, abruptly pinnate. Leaflets 5 pair, subacute. Stipules ovate, acute. Petals about equalling the sepals. Flowers ⅓-½in. diam. Peduncles shorter than the leaves. Stamens 5-10. Fruit broadly pyramidal, somewhat pointed ; cocci hirsute, 2-seeded, the spines confluent into toothed wings. Fruit slightly bitter, eaten by the desert nomads in Multan.
Part used : — The fruit.
Use : — The fruits are used for the same purpose as those of T. terestris, Linn.
In Baluchistan, the fruit is a domestic remedy for uterine disorders after parturition.
206. Zygophyllum simplex, Linn., h.f.b.i., i. 424.
Vern. :— Alethi (Pb.) ; Alethi ; putlani (Sind).
Habitat : — Sandy deserts ; Sindh, the Punjab, at Multan : Arabia.
A small prostrate herb, glabrous slender much branched ; annual. Leaves simple, cylindrical, small, sessile, fleshy, obtuse ; stipules lanceolate, acute. Peduncles as long as the obovate cucullate sepals. Petals spathulate. Scales 2-partite. Capsule deflected, turbinate, rough, of 5 compressed 2-3-seeded cocci. Seeds fusiform, smooth.
Use : — The Arabs beat up the leaves in water and apply the infusion to the eyes in ophthalmia, &c. (Murray.)
207. Fagonia arabica, Linn., H.F.B.I., I. 425.
Syn. : — F. mysorensis, Roth.
Habitat : — Throughout North-Western India, Sindh, the Punjab and the Southern Provinces of the Western Peninsula.
Sans. : — Dusparsha. Dhanvayâs.
Vern. : — Drummahoi (Sind); Samaba (Pb.) ; J. Tndraji : — (Porebunder and Guj.) Dbamâso ; (Marathi) Dhamâsâ ; (Hindi) Ustargar, Ustarkhar ; (Katchi) Dhrâmau. Pers. : — Bádávard.
A small green spiny undershrub, with erect branches, more or less glandular. Young branches terete, striate, spines exceeding the linear leaflets. Leaves 1-3-foliate ; leaflets elliptic or linear, acute ; petiole often foliaceous. Flowers small, pale, rose-coloured. Sepals 5, oblong-lanceolate, half as long as the petals, deciduous, imbricate. Petals 5, closed, caducous, imbricate. Disk short, inconspicuous. Stamens 10, inserted on the disk ; filaments filiform, naked anthers oblong. Ovary sessile, 5-cornered, 5-celled, tapering into a subulate style. Stigma simple ; Ovules, 2 lateral at the base of each cell, pendulous from ascending funicles. Fruit a pubescent, 5-cornered capsule of 5 1-seeded cocci, which dehisce along the ventral suture and separate from a horny endocarp. Seeds punctulate, erect, compressed, broadly oblong, testa mucilaginous, albumen horny ; Cotyledons broad, flat, ovate.
Parts used : — The leaves, twigs and juice.
Uses : — The leaves and twigs are supposed to possess cooling properties (Watt).
It has a great reputation as a suppurative in cases of abscesses from thorns, etc. It is also used for cooling the mouth in stomatitis ; the juice being boiled with sugar-candy until quite thick, and a small quantity allowed to dissolve in the mouth frequently. The juice is thought to prevent suppuration when applied to open wounds (Dymock).
It is largely used by the native practitioners as a bitter and astringent tonic (S. Arjun).
It is used in Sindh and Afghanistan as a popular remedy for fever among the hill people (Pharmacop. Ind.)
Dose of the cold infusion of the stem, and leaves 5-10 tolas. The infusion is thus prepared: — Take of stem and leaves in sufficient quantity, cut to pieces and add 16 times the quantity of cold water ; allow it to remain to be infused for 12 hours ; then strain" (Dr. IRJI JHINA.)
208. F. Bruguieri, D.C. h.f.b.i., i. 425.
Vern. : — Spalaghzái (N. W. Himalaya, Trans-Indus); Dhama, damiyá, dramah (Pb. and Sindh.) ; Dhamâso (Guz.). Habitat :— North -West India. Peshawar.
A small, green, spiny, undershrub, with procumbent branches. Internodes short, Lower leaves 3-foIiate, the rest 1-foliate ; young branches sub-tetagonous, sides grooved, spines (modified stipules) exceeding the ovate, rather fleshy leaflets ; young leaflets rather minute. Peduncles solitary from between the spiny stipules. Fruit, a capsule, bearing on its top the remnant of the tapering subulate style.
Part used : — The whole plant,
Use : — The plant is given as a tonic and febrifuge, and in the Peshawar Valley it is given to children as a prophylactic against small-pox (Bellew).
It is useful as an application to tumors, also in chronic fever, dropsy, and delirium, and in any disorder which arises from poisoning. (Punjab Products).
N. 0. GERANIACEÆ.
209. Geraniun Wallichianum, Sweet, h.f.b.i, i. 430.
Vern :-- Liljahri, N. W. P. Kao-ashud (Kashmir) Roots.— Mam-i-ran (Pushtu).
Habitat : — Temperate Himalaya, from Nepal to Murree.
A perennial hairy herb. Root-stock thick. Stems robust, l-4ft., erect. Leaves orbicular, 2-5in. across, palmate! y-3-5- lobed ; segments wedge-shaped, pointed, acutely and irregularly toothed ; stipules oblong-ovate, ½-1in. Flowers blue- purple, 1½-2in. diam. Sepals abruptly long-pointed. Petals slightly notched, claw hairy (Collett); filaments suddenly dilated at base. Carpels pilose ; seeds smooth.
The very large solitary stipules best distinguish this species (Edgeworth and Hook. Fil).
Use : — Aitchison says the root of this plant was brought to him in Kuram as a valuable medicine known as Mum-i-ran (Kuram Valley Flora, J. L. S. xviii-p-26. ).
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