050 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS.
N. 0. PEDALINEJE.
909. Martynia diandra, Glox. h.f.b.i., iv. 386.
Vern :— Bic'hchhu"(H>, Naka-tali (Tamj. English : — Tiger claw or Devil's claw.
Habitat : —An American weed, it is now common in the Gangetic plain and elsewhere in India on road sides and in waste places, flowering during the rainy season.
A tall coarse herb. Leaves large, opposite, cordate, glutinous. Flowers diandrous, rose-colored and handsome like those of Sesamum indieum, DeC. Fruit large, woody, beaked by two curved spines, having somewhat the appearance of a beetle.
Uses : — The fruit is rubbed down with water and applied to the part stung by scorpion.
910. Pedalium Murex, Linn., h.f.b.i., iv. 386, Roxb. 496.
Vern. — Farid-buti, bara gokhru (Hind.); Khasake-kabir (Arab.); Khasake-kalan (Pers.) ; Bara-ghokru (Dec); Peru- nerunji (Tam.) ; Enuga-palleru-mullu. pedda-palleru (Tel.)'; Bara-ghokru (Beng.;; Motto-ghokru (Guz.) ; Hatti-charatte, mothe gokharu (Mar.); Anne-galu-gida (Kan.y.
Habitat -Dekkan and Konkan. Found by me in Thana district at nchni (Tarapur) and at Ghat Kopar hill spur (K. R. K.
An annual herb, growing in sandy places near the sea. Stems decumbent, much branched, thick, slightly rough with scaly glands or hairs. Leaves opposite, 1-1 fin., broadly oval- oblong, acute at base, truncate or obtuse, very coarsely crenate- serrate or lobed, glabrous above, covered with minute scaly glands beneath, rather fleshy, pale glaucous green. Petiole £-Jin. Flowers sulphur yellow, on very short curved peduncles, Calyx-tube very short and wide ; segments linear, spreading. Corolla limb lin. diam.; lobes broad ; throat hairy within ; filaments glandular — hairy at base. Fruit J-fin., narrowed below
