Vern. : — Palik-juhia, pálak-juhi, jui-pani (Hind.); Júi-pana (Beng.); Pulcolli, puzhuk-kolli, pushpa-kedal, nagamallichcheti (Mal. S. P.) ; Gâchkaran (Bomb.); Gajakarní (Mar.) ; Kabútar-ka-jhár (Dec); Naga-malli (Tam.) ; Nargamollay, nága malle (Tel.) ; Naga-mallige (Kan.).
Habitat:— Cultivated throughout India; perhaps wild in the Deccan Peninsula.
A much-branched shrub. Leaves entire, 3-4 by ¾-1½in., usually narrowed at both ends, oblong or ovate-oblong, pubescent or glabrate ; margins undulate ; petiole ⅓in. Cymes terminal and on short lateral branches, dusky. Flowers often clustered. Bracts and bracteoles O-1/12in., linear. Calyx densely pubescent, 1/10in. Corolla-tube 1 by 1/16in., lobes ⅓in., 3 lower, each twice as broad as the shortly bifid upper. Capsule clavate 4-seeded, stalk long, solid cylindric.
Uses : — The fresh root and leaves, bruised and mixed with lime juice, are a useful remedy for ringworm and other cutaneous affections. The seeds also are efficacious in ringworm. (Ainslie and Royle.) The root-bark is a remedy for the affection of the skin which the Europeans call Dhobie's itch, Malabar itch, &c. (Oymock).
In Sind, it is said to possess extraordinary aphrodisiacal powers, the roots boiled in milk being much employed for that purpose by native practitioners (Murray).
The roots are believed in some parts of India to be an antidote to the bite of poisonous snakes. Of late, it seems to have attracted considerable attention in Europe, on account of its reputed value in the treatment of ringworm. It seems, however, to be universally used with good results in cases of Tinea circinata tropica, although its utility in ordinary ringworm (Tinea tonsurans) seems very doubtful. Dr. Liborius analysed the root at his laboratory at Dorpat, and found that it contained a substance which he called rhinacanthin, and which resembled Chrysophanic and frangulic acids in its antiseptic and antiparasitic properties (Watt).
chemical composition. — Liborius has analysed the root in the Dorpat Laboratory, finding in it 13.51 per cent, of ash and 1.87 per cent, of Rhinacanthin, a quinine-like body, besides the ordinary constituents of plants.
