in combination with manna, aniseed and carbonate of magnesia, or with stimulants and aromatics, (Ph. J. for Sept. 1., 1888, p. 162).
The root and leaves are used by the natives of Bengal in infusion, as a tonic and febrifuge, (Irvine.)
" Its hollow thick stems are full of a milky juice, which renders it a very acceptable food to most animals— pigs, sheep, and rabbits are particularly fond of it. It has also been used as an article of diet by men from a very early date. It is recorded by Pliny that Hecate regaled Theseus, before his encounter with the bull of Marathon, upon a dish of Sow-thistles. The ancients considered them very wholesome and strengthening, and administered the juice medicinally for many disorders, **. In Germany, the leaves are put into salads, ** " [Sowerby's English Botany, Vol. V., p. 153].
697. S. arvensis, Linn., h.f.b.l, iii. 414.
Syn. : — S. orixensis, Roxb. 593.
Vern. : — Sahadevi bari (H.) ; Bhangra, kala bhangra (Pb.) ; Ban-pálang (B.) ; Nallá-tapata (Tel.) ; Birbarangou (Santal).
Habitat : — Throughout India ; wild in cultivated places, scarce in the plains, common in the Khasia and Himalaya.
Annual milky herb, glabrous towards the base, glandular hairy upwards. Root-stock creeping. Stem 3-4ft., glabrous, tall, hollow, angular, umbellately branched above. Leaves nearly radical pinnatifid, 4-6in., lobes pointing downward, teeth small, basal lobes rounded, appressed to the stem. " Leaves," says J. D. Hooker, " runcinate pinnatifid, spinous toothed, cauline ½-amplexicaul, with appressed rounded auricles, uppermost linear. Heads l-2in. diam (Simla) *. " Heads and peduncles, " says J. D. Hooker, " glandular hispid." Achenes narrow, subcompressed, with thick regular ribs on each face.
Use : — Cattle are fond of every part of the plant. On being wounded, there is much milky juice discharged, which thickens into a substance like fresh soft opium (Roxburgh).
Similar to Lactuca scariola, Linn., in medicinal properties (Watt).
Among the Santals the root is given in jaundice, (Revd. A. Campbell).
