the aqueous solution rendered alkaline and agitated with ether. The ether extract contained an alkaloid which gave marked precipitates with the usual reagents. The dark brown yellowish resin, insoluble in ether and benzole, was wholly soluble in ammonia, and on spontaneous evaporation left a brittle residue. The ammoniacal solution when freshly made was yellow, but on standing became green, and on spontaneous evaporation the solid residue was brownish." (Pharmacographia Indica, Vol. II, p. 420.)
748. Rauwolfia serpentina, Benth. h.f.b.i., iii. 632.
Syn. : — Ophioxylon serpentinum, Linn., Roxb. 233.
Sans. :— Sarpagandhá ; Chundrika.
Vern. :— Chota-chánd (H.) ; Chandra; Chota-chánd (B.); Chandra, chota-chand, karavi, harkai, (Bomb.) ; Harkaya (Mar.) ; Pátala gandhi, pátala garuda (Tel.) ; Chuvanna-avilpori (Malay.).
Habitat : — Tropical Himalaya and plains near the foot of the hills, from Sirhind and Moradabad to Sikkim. The Khasia Mountain and in the Deccan Peninsula along the Ghats to Travancore.
A small, erect, glabrous shrub, 6-18in., rarely 2-3ft, in a rich soil, climbing (Roxb). Bark white, rarely lenticilate. Leaves 3-7 by l½-2½in., very pale beneath, elliptic lanceolate, or obovate, acute or acuminate, nerves 8-12 pair, petiole ⅓in. long, penduncle 2-5in., stout, branches and pedicels ¼-⅓in.. Flowers white or pinkish, nearly lin. long, arranged in terminal or lateral corymbose cymes. Calyx small, bright red ; bracts minute, lanceolate. Calyxlobes 1/10in. long lanceolate. Corolla about ½in. long ; tube slender, shortly globosely inflated above the middle, often curved, margins of lobes of Calyx undulate. Disk membranous ; lobed. Drupes in pair or single, black, ¼in. diam, broadly obliquely ovoid ; endocarp slightly rugose.
Parts used : — The root, leaves and juice.
Uses : — It is held in high esteem by the natives as an antidote to snake-bites, but reliable evidence of its utility is wanting. It is also valued as a tonic and febrifuge. Horsefield. (Asiat. Journ., vol. viii., p. 148) states that the root yields a strong
