783. Cosmostigma racemosum, Wight., h.f.b.i , iv. 46.
Vern. : — Ghárahuvon (Can.) ; Shendvel, Shendori, Márvel, Márvivel (Mar.) ; Vattu-valli (Mal.) ; Ghárphul (Goa).
Habitat : — The Western Ghats, from the Konkan southward. Sylhet. Chittagong. Ceylon, low country, rather common.
A shrubby climber. Stems stout, cylindrical, often lenticillate, glabrous. Leaves 3-5in., ovate, cordate, or rounded at base, acuminate, subacute, glabrous pedicels ; cymes at first umbellate or corymbose, but lengthening out into racemes 2-2½ in. long; no bracts. Sepals oval, obtuse, ciliolate. Corolla greenish-yellow, speckled with red dots ; about lin. diam., lobes ovate obtuse. Follicles 2½-3in. Seeds ⅜in., broadly ovate (Trimen). " Corolla ⅓in. diam., fleshy, speckled with brown. Follicles 7in. long by l½in. diam., lanceolate or linear-oblong, obtuse, smooth " (J. D. Hooker).
Uses : — This large woody climber, running over high trees, has a medicinal reputation on the Western Coast, where its leaves are used to cure ulcerous sores, Ghâra (घाड ) and the root-bark is administered internally in Vataka ( वटक ) a disease in which white lumps of undigested food are passed. Useful in dyspepsia accompanied by a febrile condition and absence of bile in the stools. The authors of the Pharmacographia Indica have tried the root-bark of this plant in such cases, given in five grain doses, three times a day, and have found it to be a most efficient cholagogue ; it had no purgative effect, but restored the natural colour of the stools after the usual remedies (mineral acids, podophyllin, enonyrium, etc.) had been abandoned in despair. The flowers of this plant are sweet and eaten by the natives. A biscuit was made with the powder of two ounces of the root and given to a dog without any ill effects (Pharmacographia Indica, Vol. II., p. 449.)
An ether extract of the powdered root contained some free crystalline fatty acids, soluble in cold rectified spirit and aqueous alkalies. Petroleum ether dissolved the fatty acids from the extracts, leaving a small quantity of an acid resin. An alcoholic extract, in addition to a resin, contained a sugar,
