half a teacup-ful twice daily. (Ainslie). It is reputed to be a sovereign remedy for dysentery.
The plant is used in Ceylon as a bitter tonic and febrifuge.
The root is used by the Santals in intermittent fever of children (Revd. A Campbell).
The leaves are made into cigarettes and smoked in chronic bronchitis and asthma. The plant is astringent, useful in internal hæmorrhages (Surgeon-Major Hunston, in Watt's Dictionary).
Ether separated from the powdered herb a yellow neutral fat of the consistence of vaseline. The alcoholic extract contained an alkaloid of a slightly bitter taste, and affording no colour reactions with strong mineral acids. An organic acid of a deep red brown colour occurred in the water extract, and formed an uncrystallizable compound with lead. A quantity of saline matter was present in this drug. (Pharmacograph. Ind. II. 544).
851. Cressa cretica, Linn, h.f.b.l, iv. 225 ; Roxb. 265.
Sans : — Rudantika, Amrita- Srava.
Vern. :— Gûn (Sind.); Khardi (Bomb.); Chavel (Nâsik) ; Uppu Sanaga (Tel.).
Habitat : — Throughout India, from the Punjab and Calcutta to Ceylon.
A small erect bush-like annual. Stems 6-18in. long, slender, much branched. Leaves crowded, sessile ⅛-⅓in. long, densely silky-hairy ; lower cordate, upper smaller, ovate or lanceolate. Flowers very shortly pedicelled, white or pink ; bracts 2, small linear, appressed to the calyx. Calyx densely silky ; segments ⅛in. long, elliptic, obtuse, concave. Corolla 1/5in. long, divided down to the middle ; lobes oblong, reflexed, hairy outside near the apex. Capsule 1/6-1/5in long, ovoid, pointed, hairy at the apex. Seeds 4. (Duthie.)
The Indian plant differs from the common form C. cretica, in having the capsule* 4 seeded.
Uses : — It is considered by Sanskrit writers to be exhilarating, and to purify the blood and give tone to the system. It is presented in decoction.
