Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/343

Use : — The fruit is used by the natives of Bengal as a carminative similarly to long-pepper (Watt).

Syn. : — Chavica Betle, Miq.

Sans : — Tâmbûla.

Vern. : — Pân (H. and B.) ; Vettilee (Tam.) ; Tamal-pakoo (Tel.) ; nâgavela (Bom.) ; Vetta (Mal.).

Habitat : — Cultivated in the hotter and damper parts of India.

Stems and branches stout, climbing, compressed when coriaceous, ovate ; base usually cordate and unequal-sided ; blade 3-8in. ; petiole ½-lin. Supra-basal nerves alternate. Spikes, male 3-6in., female longer, peduncled and longer than the leaves. Fruiting spike cylindric, pendulous, l-5in. long, stout. Fruit 1/6-¼in. diam. very fleshy and often confluent into a cylindric red mass. Most plants female, says Brandis.

The ancient Hindu writers recommended that betel-leaf should be taken early in the morning, after the morning, after meals and at bed-time. According to Susruta, it is aromatic, carminative, stimulant, and astringent. It sweetens the breath, improves the voice, and removes all foulness from the mouth. According to other writers it acts as an aphrodisiac. Medicinally it is said to be useful in diseases supposed to be caused by deranged phlegm, and it's juice is much used as an adjunct to pills administered in these diseases, the pills being rubbed into an emulsion with the juice of the betel-leaf and licked up. Being always at hand, Pan leaves are used as a domestic remedy in various ways. The stalk of the leaf smeared with oil is introduced into the rectum in constipation and tympanitis of children, with the object of inducing the bowels to act. The leaves are applied to the temples in headache for relieving pain, to painful and swollen glands for promoting absorption, and to the mammary gland with the object of checking the secretion of milk. Pan leaves are used as a ready dressing for foul ulcers, which seem to improve under them." (U. C. Dutt.)