Habitat: — Plains of the IT. Provinces, upper Ganges and the Concan.
Sans. : — Durlabha, girikarnika, yavása. Arab. : — Alhaju, haj, aàqúl, shoukuljaimal. Pers. : — Shutarkhor, khareshutar.
Vern: — Jawâsá (H. and Bomb.); Dulalabhá. (B.) ; Girikarmika (Tel.) ; Oosturkbar, kas-khandero (Sind).
The Manna, Taranjabin.
A low shrub, armed with copious sub-patent, hard pungent spines ½-lin. long. Leaves simple, drooping from the base of the spines or branches, oblong, obtuse, rigidly coriaceous glab- rous. Flowers 1-6 from a spine, on short pedicels. Calyx glabrous ??-⅛in - Corolla reddish, 3 times the Calyx. Pod one in. long or less, falcate or straight.
Duthie writes {Flora of the Upper Gangetie Plain, Vol. I., p. 280) that " the true A. maurorum of Tournefort, with silky pods, does not occur in India."
Uses: — The plant is described by Sanskrit writers as laxative, diuretic and expectorant, the thorny flower, stalks and branches being the parts used. No reference is made by them to the manna.
In Mahomed an works it is considered to be aperient, attenuant and alexipharmic. A poultice or fumigation with it is recommended to cure piles. The expressed juice is applied to opacities of the cornea, and is directed to be snuffed up the nose as a remedy for megrim. An oil is prepared with the leaves as an external application in rheumatism ; the flowers are applied to remove piles (Dymock).
The manna is not produced by the Indian plant, but is imported from Persia and Bokhara. It is described by the author of the Mahlizan as aperient and cholagogue, more digestible than ash manna, expectorant, a good purifier of the blood from corrupt and adust humors when given in diet drinks, such as barley water, &c ; diuretic, and, with milk, fattening and aphrodisiac. (Dymock).
