Indian Medicinal Plants/Natural Order Caprifoliaceæ
N. 0. CAPRIFOLIACEÆ.
589. Sambucus ebulus, Linn., h.f.b.l, iii 2.
Vern. : — Richh kas ; Mushkiâra ; ganhûla gándal ; gwándish ; Siske tâsar (Pb).
Habitat : — Kashmir and Western Himalaya.
A gregarious, herbaceous plant. Stems mostly simple, 3-6ft. high. Leaves unequally pinnate, 9in. Leaflets 5-9, oblong-lanceolate, free, 3-6in., puberulous, or nearly glabrous. Stipules often foliaceous, serrate. Corymbs peduncled or leafy at the base, compact and many-rayed. Bracteoles minute, linear. Corolla 1/6in. diam., broadly companulate, white, pink, or dark purple. Drupe 1/6in. diam., globose, black. C. B. Clarke observes that the flowers, European as well as Indian, have a strong piculiar odour, and that the uppermost flowers are barren.
Use : — The roots have purgative properties, and are used in dropsy, as also the berries (Honigberger).
In England, the berries, and also decoction made of the root and bark of this plant, are very old village medicines, and are in occasional use in country places. They are violently emetic.
An infusion of the fresh or dried flowers is used for cold.
A preparation made from leaves and flowers is an old country medicine for rheumatism.
An oil, obtained by distilling the leaves with steam, is of a dark-brown colour, and has an unpleasant odour, : Sp. Gr. 0.8998 at 15° C. ; acid value, 250-90 ; ester value, 46.0. The saponified oil has a pleasant odour, resembling that of apricots and peaches, and contains an alcohol which has not been identified. Palmitic acid was detected in the oil. (H. Haencel in Chem. Zentr. 1910, abstracted in J. Ch. I. for May 31, 1910, p.649).
590. Viburnum fœtidum, Wall, h.f.b.l, iii. 4.
Vern. :— Nara Vela (M.)
Habitat : — Khasia Mountains and Assam.
An erect shrub, 6-10 ft. ; branchlets, petioles and inflores-cence, stellate hairy. Leaves coriaceous, rhomboid, lanceolate or oblong-rhomboid, glabrous above, 2 by 1½in., scarcely acuminate ; with, the base cuneate or rounded, 3-nerved ; margins remotely toothed ; axils of the primary nerves, with tufts of hair secondary nerves, 3 or 4 pairs, transverse, conspicuous beneath Petiole ⅓-½in. long. Corymbs terminal, subumbellate, stellate pubescent, 2-4in. diam. 4-8-rayed, peduncled ; bracts and bracteoles numerous, hairy, from linear-oblong to spathulate-oblong Calyx-tube glabrous. Calyx-teeth minute, triangular. Corolla lobes 1/16 in. diam., round, white. Drupe 1/5 by 1/6in., compressed subacute, red. Seed dorsally 2-grooved, ventrally 3-grooved, and hardly concave.
Use: — It is acrid, bitter and astringent, and used as an emmenagogue. (S. Arjun)
" It is customary for Hindoo women, who have been confined to hang a branch over the room in which they lie, as a protection against evil spirits and post-partum hæmorrhage."
Another superstition is, that if seven pieces of the stem of this plant are knotted into a thread made from cotton picked by a virgin, the necklace thus formed will cure scrofulous-glands. A cake made from the flour of eighteen kinds of grain with narwel juice, is scraped on one side while hot, well moistened with the juice and applied to the head in headache. A wine-glassful of the juice of the leaves is administered internally in menorrhagia daily, also in post-partum hæmorrhage. It is remarkable that V. primifolium, an American plant, has also been found useful in all uterine diseases characterised by loss of blood and in threatened abortion (Dymock).
591. Lonicera glauca, H. F. and T. III. II.
Vern. :— Shingtik ; Shea ; Shewa (Pb. and Hindi).
Habitat : — Temperate N.-W. Himalaya ; Nubra, Zanskar and Piti. Titail in Kashmir ; Garwbal and Kumaon.
An erect, glaucous, densely-branched, wiry undershrub, glabrous except as to the margins of the leaves. Leaves ⅔ by ¼in., obtuse, oblong, base hardly rounded. Petioles 1/12 in. Bracts large, ovate, flat ¼-⅓in., glaucous, hispidly ciliate on the margins, usually free, or, when the fruits coalesce, sometimes much connate.
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