it with advantage in ardor-urinæ, dysuria, strangury and some cases of bilious dyspepsia. It is one of the best and most agreeable vehicles for other medicines, particularly those used in dyspepsia, dysentery, diarrhœa, and dropsical affections. From their combined actions of demulcent, expectorant and laxative, raisins are a frequent ingredient in Mohamedan prescriptions for catarrhal and febrile complaints. They enter into the composition of Tinctura Cardamomi Composita and Tinctura Sennæ. They also form an ingredient in one of my own formulae for certain forms of fever. There is little or no difference between the medicinal properties of the common variety of raisins
and those of the small ones without stones (MOODEN SHERIFF.)
300. V. indica, Linn, h.f.b.l, i. 653.
Vern. : — Amdhauka, Amulka(B.); Janglî angûr (H. and Dec.) ; Sambara or shembara-valli (Tel.) Chempara-valli (Malyal.) ; Randraksha, kole-jan (Mar.) ; Pâlkanda (Konk.) To-wel, Rata-bulatwel (Sinhalese).
Habitat :— The central tableland of India, the Western Peninsula and Bengal. Ceylon most low country, up to 2,500 ft.
Stems slender ; permanently woolly-tomentose branches, leaves and peduncles. Leaves 4-10in., coriaceous, at length glabrous and shining above, cordate-obovate, acute, denticulate-serrate, the points of the serratures hard almost to spiny. Ped-uncles stoutish, bearing a long, simple or bifurcated tendril (K. R. K). Flowers greenish-purple, nearly sessile, in short cylindrical spikes, about 2 in. Petals distinct ; rhomboid-ovate. Style O. Fruit globose, the size of a large currant or pea, 2-4 seeded. Seed ½ by ¼in., elliptic, slightly curved on the back, from end to end, otherwise flattish, with a spathulate tubercle, the face wedge-shaped.
Use : — According to Rheede, the juice of the root, with the kernel of the cocoanut, is employed as a depurative and aperient.
In the Concan, the country folk use it as an alterative in the form of a decoction, and they consider it to purify the blood and act as a diuretic and render the secretions healthy (DYMOCK.)
