An annual weedy herb, 6-18in. high, branched from the base, with an erect stem, naked below, and slender leafy, angular branches above, glabrous. Leaves numerous, crowded, distichous, somewhat imbricated, spreading, nearly sessile, ½-¾in., oblong-oval, obtuse thin, pale beneath. Stipules very acute. Male flowers : — sepals 1/40in. long, rounded ; stamens 3. Female flowers: — sepals oval, sub-acute, with broad, white margins. Fruit very small, 1/16-1/12in., depressed globose, faintly 3-lobed,
quite smooth. Seeds with slender ribs. Flowers all the year, yellow (Trimen).
Uses : — The young shoots in infusion are given in dysentery. The leaves are stomachic. (Watt.) The juice of the stems mixed with oil employed in ophthalmia. Leaves and root pulverised and made into poultice with rice-water said to lessen œdematous swellings and ulcers. (Drury.) " The Rev. Dr. John informs me that he has known the fresh root prove an excellent remedy for the jaundice- About half an ounce, while fresh, was given, rubbed up in a cup of milk night and morning, the cure was completed in a few days without any sensible operation of the medicine." (Roxb.)
" Phyllanthus Niruri, Linn., and P. urinaria, Linn., two plants indigenous throughout India, are held in considerable repute by the natives as diuretics, and as such are much employed in dropsical affections, also in gonorrhœa, and other genito-urinary affections. They have been mentioned favourably by Horsfield and others, but they do not appear to possess any special claims to notice.
" The decoction of the root and leaves is very bitter and is a favourite remedy among the natives of Porto Rico, for the cure of intermittent fevers. I have myself many times proved its efficacy in preventing the expected paroxysm. I was accustomed to employ a tincture made by myself with the'whole plant, the dose being two drachms in the morning. Sometimes I repeated the dose, which acted upon the bowels as a slight purgative and this is very useful in inveterate intermittents with infarcts of the spleen and liver. The infusion of the root and leaves is a good tonic, and a diuretic when taken cold in repeat-
