Indian Medicinal Plants/Natural Order Campanulaceæ
N. 0. CAMPANULACEÆ.
702. Lobelia nicotianœfolia, Heyne., h.b.f.i., iii, 427 ; Roxb. 170.
Vern. : — Deonal, Bokenal, Dhaval (Mar.).
Habitat: — Malabar; on the Ghauts, from Bombay to Travancore.
Tall herbs ; stems usually much branched upwards, 5-12ft., erect, somewhat pubescent or glabrate ; below an inch and a half or more in diameter, and almost solid ; the upper portion is a hollow tube ending in a crowded head of flower spikes which are about a foot in length. Leaves mostly radical, resemble those of the tobacco ; narrowly obovate-lanceolate, lower often 12 by 2in., upper gradually smaller, subsessile, serrulate herbaceous, glabrous or nearly so above, pilose or glabrous beneath. Inflorescence compound ; racemes dense, more or less pubescent ; peduncles ½-1in. and upwards. Flowers large and white. Calyx-tube glabrous or pubescent ; teeth ½in.; linear, glanddenticulate. Corolla ¾-1¼in., glabrous or pubescent. Anthers glabrous, on the back rarely a little hairy. Capsule ⅓ diam., subglobose, two-celled, each cell containing a fleshy placeuta. Seeds ellipsoid, compressed, not margined ; numerous, very small, (1-50 of an inch in length).
Uses: — An infusion of the leaves is used by the natives as an antispasmodic (Ph. Ind.).
The dry herbs and seeds are said to be entremely acrid, and, according to Dymock, the dust of the former irritates the throat and nostrils like tobacco. Lisboa states that the seeds contain an acro-narcotic poison, and that they are preferred to Dhatura as a poison, when rapid effect is desired. No mention is made of the plant in Indian medical works ; indeed, it would appear to be more widely known as a poison than esteemed as a drug.
Six ounces of the dry herb yielded to rectified spirit half an ounce of dark brown resinous extract (Dymock).
703. Codonopsis ovata, Benth. h.f.b.l, iii, 433.
Vern. : — Ludût (Chenab).
Habitat : — Western Himalaya, from Kashmir to Garhwal.
Perennial herbs. Root woody, fusiform, large. Stem, 6-12in., decumbent, then erect. Leaves ovate hairy both surfaces, alternate and opposite, obtuse or acute, ¼-¾ by 1/6-½in., petiole ⅛-¼. Peduncles 3-6in., terminal. Calyx-lobes elliptic oblong, ⅓-1/6in. approximate at base, minutely pilose. Corolla broadly campanulate 1-1¼ by ⅓-⅔ in. widened upwards, sky-blue. Capsule depressed, obconic, ⅓-½in. broad ; beak ⅓in. long. Seeds narrowly ellipsoid, 1/16in. long.
Use : — The roots and leaves are made into poultices and employed in the treatment of bruises, ulcers, and wounds (Aitchison).
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