Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/589

The tubers contain an acrid juice which should be got rid of by through boiling and washing, otherwise the vegetable is apt to cause troublesome irritation in the mouth and fauces. Medicinally it is considered serviceable in hæmorrhoids ; in fact, one of its Sanskrit synonyms is arshghna, or the curer of piles. It is administered in this disease in a variety of forms. The tuber is covered with a layer of earth and roasted in a fire ; the raosted vegetable is given with the addition of oil and salt. (U. C. Dutt.)

It has a mucilaginous taste and is faintly bitter,* and acrid ; it is supposed to have restorative powers and is in much request. (Dymock).

The root used in boils and ophthalmia ; also as emmenagoue (Lindley).

Dr. Nasarvanji Fakir ji Surveyor, M.D., B.S.O., M.A., M.R.C.P., a distinguished Graduate of the Bombay University, writes : " The wild variety (under microscope,) shows two forms of crystals, while the cultivated variety shows only one form. I shall first describe those crystals which are found in both the varieties and then those found in the wild variety only. Those found in the former I shall call the white crystals ; while those found in the latter or wild variety only will be described as brown crystals. The white crystals are about 120 p

" On incinerating a thin film of the juice on a slide, these crystals were found to be fractured in numerous places, while many appeared to be either transversely striated or granular. This was due perhaps to the fact that the water of crystallization was driven out by the heat. These crystals were found to be scattered about, not collected in definite bundles. They were probably carbonate of calcium.

" The brown variety was only found, as has been already remarked, in the wild Amorphophallus. These crystals were very fine ; about one-third the size of the first. They were also acicular, but did not show a double contour. They were found in the cells arranged in sheaves, and were distinctly brown when viewed in a mass. On adding a drop of water to the juice of the tuber, these cells swelled up and discharged the crystals. When examined singly, the

• It is not at all bitter. It is the tuber of Sauromatum guttatam, Schott, which is bitter, and therefore known in the Thana District as Bitter suran.— K.R.K.

| = of a Millimetre.