Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/274
983. Mentha viridis, Linn., h.f.b.i., iv. 647.
Vern. : — Pudiná (B., Mar., Guz., Tel. and Sind.); Pudinâ, pudinâ kuhi, pahari pudinâ (Pb.) ; Pahari pudinâ (Hind.) ; Nagbó, shah-sufiam (Pers.)
Habitat : — Cultivated in Indian gardens.
A perennial herb, with a pungent smell, glabrous or nearly so. Leaves all sessile, or the lower only petioled, oblong-lanceolate, subacute, sessile, smooth above. Spikes slender. Whorls in terminal spikes ; bracts minute. Throat of Calyx glabrous. Corolla glabrous without and within. Probably a cultivated form of M. sylvestris (J. D. Hooker).
Uses: — The medicinal properties and uses of the oil obtained by distillation from the fresh herb, are similar to those of Peppermint, but it is only less powerful in its action. The seeds are mucilaginous. Leaves given in fever and bronchitis. Decoction used as lotion for aphthæ (Dr. Emerson).
984. M. piperita, Linn., h.f.b.i., iv. 647.
Habitat : — Cultivated in Indian gardens.
A perennial glabrous strong-scented herb. Leaves petioled l-4in., acute or obtuse at base, coarsely serrate, smooth above, rarely sparingly, hairy on the nerves below, ovate or oblong- lanceolate, upper smaller, sometimes bracteiform. Whorls in terminal spikes. Spikes cylindric, interrupted below. Bracts minute. Pedicels and flowers glabrous, or very sparingly hispid. Calyx often red. Probably a garden form M. Aquatica, as suggested by Bentham (J. D. Hooker).
Use : — Officinal in the British and Indian Pharmacopœias.
985. M. sylvestris, Linn., h.f.b.i., iv. 647.
Vern. :— Pudina (H., B., M., G. Tam.); Chetni-Maragi (Kan.).
Habitat : — Temperate Western Himalaya, from Kashmir to Garhwal.
A strongly scented erect or diffuse herb. Rootstock creeping ; stems l-3ft., hoary-pubescent. Leaves nearly sessile, lanceolate, ovate or oblong, l-3in., sharply toothed, acute ; upper surface hoary pubescent, lower white tomentose- Flowers small, lilac in large whorls crowded in axillary and terminal cylindric