An annual herb, slender, prostrate, diffuse, exceedingly branched. Leaves obovate, retuse or hoary beneath, 1/6-¼ in. very shortly petioled. Branches wiry, leafy, 6-18 in. long. Flowers pink, shorter than the leaves. Calyx cylindric, glabrous, strongly ribbed. Petals small.
Use : — Valued by native practitioners in the fresh state for its mucilaginous and aromatic properties; exhibited in the form of decoction in empyreuma (Murray.)
N. 0. CARYOPHYLLEÆ,
116. Saponaria Vaccaria., Linn, h.f.b.i., i. 217.
Syn. :— S. perfoliata, Roxb. 385.
Vern. :— Musna (Santal.; H.); Sabuni (B.).
Habitat ; — In wheat fields throughout India.
An annual herb, tall robust, simple or sparingly branched, perfectly glabrous, 12-24 in. high. Leaves 1-3 by ⅓-¾ in., acute, cauline, linear-oblong. Radical leaves oblong, cauline sessile, base rounded or cordate. Flowers erect in dichotomous cymes. Pedicels slender, more or less tubular, ½ in., with 5 broad green nerves, ventricose in fruit. Calyx-teeth triangular, margins scarious. Petals short, obovate, rosy. Stamens 10. Styles two. Capsule included, broadly ovoid. Seeds large, globose, black, granulate.
Part used : — The sap.
Use : — The mucilaginous sap of the plant is used by the natives in the cure for itch (Murray.)
It is considered by natives to have febrifuge and tonic- properties in long continued fevers of a low type (S. Arjun.)
The decoction of an allied species, Saponaria officinalis, has been employed both in France and Germany as an external application to the itch. It has also been given internally in gout, rheumatism, and some other disorders.
Saponaria officinalis contains a principle, called Saponine, which is white, amorphous, and has a taste first sweet, then styptic, and finally acrid.
