¼in. long. Heads in sessile terminal umbels. Corolla almost retuse, throat bearded ; tube of Corolla short, not ¼in. Fruit a syncarpium, of the size of large pea or larger, irregularly lobed.
Use : — Regarding this, Ainslie makes the following observations: — The leaves, in conjunction with certain aromatics, the Tamool doctors use in decoction, in cases of diarrhœa and dysentery, in the quantity of half a tea-cupful twice daily.
616. Paederia fœtida, Linn. iii. 195; Roxb. 229.
Sans. : — Prâsarani.
Vern. : — Khip, gandhali, gundali (H.) ; Gundhabhâ-duli (H.) ; Prasâram (Bomb.) ; Hiranwel (Mar) ; Bedoli sutta (Assam) ; Takpœdrik (Lepcha) ; Padebiri (Sikkim).
Habitat: — From the Central and Eastern Himalaya, southward to Malacca and westward to Calcutta.
A glabrous, fœtid shrub. Leaves opposite, long-petioled, or nearly glabrous ovate or lanceolate, 2-6 by ¾-2½in., base acute, rounded or cordate ; peteole ½-1in. Cyme branches opposite panicles 2-6in. long, pubrulous. Bracts minute, ovate, or subulate, ciliolate. Flower sessile and pedicelled. Calyx small, tube campanulate. Calyx-teeth short, triangular. Corolla ½-⅔in., tomentose. Fruit ⅓-¼in., polished, crowned with conical disk and minute Calyx-teeth.
Uses : — The decoction prepared of the leaves is considered wholesome and nutritive for the sick and convalescent. The whole plant is regarded as a specific for rheumatic affections, in which it is administered both internally and externally (Dutt).
The roots are used by the Hindoos as an emetic (Roxburgh).
The juice of the leaves is considered astringent and given to children when suffering from diarrhœa : dose 1 drachm. (Surgeon Mukerji, in Watt's Dictionary).
" The fruit is used to blacken the teeth by Lepchas and Pharias ; this, they say, is a specific against tooth-ache " (Gamble).
