Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/250
long, entire or distinctly crenate above the middle, glabrescent above, grey pubescent beneath. Flowers small. Panicles upto 12in. long. Calyx 1/10-1/6in., 5-toothed. Corolla very hairy in the throat 1/5-½in., middle lobe of the lower lip the largest. Stamens 4, didynamous, exserted. (3 vary 2-4 celled, 4 ovuled ; style filiform, shortly 2-lobed. Fruit a succulent drupe supported by the more or less accrescent calyx, 1/6-¼in. diam., globose, black when ripe. Endocarp normally 4-celled (Kanjilal).
The branches are apt to be attacked by Cuscuta reflexa (Dodder), says Gamble.
Uses: — " Sanskrit writers mention two varieties of Nirgundí — that with pale blue flowers is called Sindhuvára (Vitex trifolia), and that with blue flowers is called Nirgundi. The properties of both are identical, but the latter is generally used in medicine. The root of V. Negundo is considered tonic, febrifuge and expectorant. The leaves are aromatic, tonic and vermifuge. A decoction of Nirgundí leaves is given with the addition of long pepper in catarrhal fever with heaviness of head and dullness of hearing. A pillow stuffed with the leaves of Nirgundf is placed under the head for relief of head-ache. The juice of the leaves is said to have the property of removing foetid discharges and worms from ulcers. An oil prepared with the juice of the leaves is applied to sinuses and scrofulous sores " (Hindu Mat. Med.). Dr. Fieming remarks that the leaves are discutient, and are useful in dispersing swellings of joints from acute rheumatism and of the testes from suppressed gonorrhœa. The people of Mysore are in the habit of treating febrile, catarrhal and rheumatic affections by means of a vapour bath prepared with this plant. Roxburgh also mentions the use of the decoction of the leaves as a bath in the puerperal state of women in India, and Ainslie states that the Mahomedans smoke the dried leaves for the relief of headache and catarrh. The dried fruit acts as a vermifuge (Pharm. Ind ),
Dr. Hove (1787) states that the Europeans in Bombay call it the fomentation shrub, and that it is used in the hospitals