1164 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS.
was dark and viscid, and had an aromatic odour, but did not yield any crystalline deposit on standing : in absolute alcohol it was soluble, and on spontaneous evaporation some yellow matter separated, which was destitute of crystalline structure on microscopic examination. The alcoholic solution had no special taste. The ether extract was yellow, and had an aromatic somewhat tea-like odour, and on standing became indistinctly crystalline. In warm water a portion dissolved, the solution possession a strong acid reaction, and affording a dirty reddish coloration with ferric chloride : it did not precipitate gelatine, and gave no reaction with cyanide of potassium. The portion insoluble in water was dissolved by ammonia, affording a deep yellow coloured solution with a somewhat camphoraceous odour, the addition of acids causing the precipitation of whitish flocks.
The ether extract obtained from the original aqueous solution, after it had been rendered alkaline, contained a well-marked alkaloidal principle, which after purification afforded the following reactions : with Fronde's re-agent pinkish in the cold, dirty blue on warming ; with sulphuric acid yellowish- red ; no reaction with sulphuric acid and potassium bichromate ; no reaction with ferric chloride ; with nitric acid a yellow coloration ; it was not precipitated by chromate of potash from an aqueous solution acidulated with sulphuric acid ; taste harsh, without bitterness. We propose provisionally to call this principle Acalyphine (Pharmacogr. Ind. III. 293-294.)
1154. A. hispida, Burm., h.f.b.i., v. 417.
Syn. : — Caturus speciflorus, Linn., Roxb, 714.
Vern. :— Watta-tali (Mal.).
Habitat : — Cultivated in gardens.
" This is included by J. D. Hooker (see p. 417, Vol. V., F. B. In.) among the doubtful and excluded species " with the following remark : — " Caturus spiciflorus Roxb. Fl. Ind. Ill, 760), with very long spikes minute bracts and very long styles is a garden plant only in India." Roxburgh's description is as follows : — " Shrubby. Leaves long-petioled, cordate, serrate. Spikes pendulous, longer than the leaves." Male calyx absent ; Corolla trifid. Female calyx three or four parted ; corolla absent, Styles three. Capsule tricocous. With regard to the figure of Acalypha hispida Burin., from Burmans' Flora Indica, 1768, which is reproduced in this work (Plate 875 A), Roxburgh says that same would be a tolerable representation of the female if the spikes were longer and pendulous."
Uses : —Flowers said to be specific in diarrhœa and similar disorders ; boiled in water or administered in the form of a
