Uses : — Used as a substitute for true Pit-pápra (Fumaria), which it resembles in having a faintly bitter, disagreeable taste (Dymock). The juice of the leaves is squeezed into the eye in cases of ophthalmia (Ainslie).
935. Adhatoda Vasica, Nees, h.f.b.i., iv. 540.
Syn. : — Justicia Adhatoda, Linn. Roxb. 43.
Habitat: — From the Punjab and Assam to Ceylon and Singapore.
Sans. : — Arusak (not angry), Vâsa (giving perfume), Vrisha (chief), Sinha-mukhi (lion-mouthed), Sinha-parni (lion-leaved), Sinhakatpat (lion-eradicator), Ruksha (dry.)
Vern. : — Arusha, adulasá, adulaso (Hind, and Bom.); Bâkas, vásaka (Beng.) ; Bhekkar, basúti, tora bujja, bashang arús, (Himalayan names) ; Bansa (Pers.) ; Adhadode (Tam.) ; Adasara (Tel.) ; Atalotakam (Mad.)
An evergreen, dense shrub, 4-8ft., sometimes arborescent, even 20ft., with a fetid smell, says Kanjilal. The Bombay plant has no fetid smell. Leaves 4-8in., entire, minutely pubescent especially when young, lateral nerves 8-12 pair. Petiole l-l½in. Inflorescence a dense, short, pedunculate, bracteate spike, 2-4in. long, terminal often several together. Bracts ¾ by ¼in., ovate or elliptic sessile ; bracteoles ½ by ⅛in., falcate, oblong. Calyx ⅓-½in. deeply 5-lobed, lobes equal, lanceolate. Corolla-tube ⅛-⅓ by ½-⅓in. broad, white, lower portion short and funnel-shaped ; lower lip with two lines of oblique purple bars. Stamens 2 ; filaments dilated ; anther-cells acute at the apex, scarcely spurred at base. Capsule ¾in. clavate, longitudinally channelled, pubescent, 4-seeded. Seeds 1/5in. diam., glabrous, tubercled. Wood white, moderately hard. Every part of the plant is exceedingly bitter.
Uses : --The leaves and the root of this plant are considered a very efficacious remedy for all sorts of coughs, being administered along with ginger. " The medicine was considered so serviceable in phthisis that it was said no man suffering from this disease need despair as long as the vasaka plant exists"
