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33. CONVOLVULACEAE
I. Argyreia nervosa (Burm. f) Bcj., Hon. Maurit. 224. 183. (Fig. 140).
Convolvulus nervosus Hurrn '.— Convolvulus speciosus Linn. f.—Argyreia speciosa Sweet—
l.etisomiii specivsa Roxb.—Lettsomia nervosa Roxb.—Ipomoea speciosa Blume.
I'MKI Elephant Creeper; Sinh. Mahadumudu; Tarn. Ambagar, Peymunnai, Sadarbalai,
Samutrachogi, Samutrappachai, Samutrappalat; Hindi Samandarpat, Samandarphaind,
Samandarsof. Samandarsckh, Samudrasckh; Sans. Ajantri, Antakotarapushpi, Chhagaladi,
Chhagalandihri, Chhagantri, Chhagala. Dirgha, Driddhadaraka, Driddhadaru, Hastivalli.
Rykshagandha. Samudrapalaka, Samudrapatra. Samudrasosha, Vryddhadaraka.
A very large climber with stout, white-tomentose stems; leaves simple, alternate, 7.5—
30 cm long. 6.2—25 cm broad, ovate, acute, glabrous above, persistently white-tomentose
beneath, base cordate; petioles 5—15 cm long, white-tomentose; flowers regular, bisexual in
subcapital cymes, ' peduncles 7.5—15 cm long, stout, white-tomentose, bracts large, ovate
with a long acumen, 6.5—7.8 cm long, 3.5—5 cm broad, thin, veined, pubescent outside,
glabrous inside, deciduous, pedicels very short, white-tomentose; sepals 5, free, imbricate, 1.5—
I 7 cm long, 1.2—1 3 cm broad, oblong-elliptic, apiculate, white-tomentose outside; corolla
gamopctalous, 5—6.2 cm long, tubular-infundibuliform, the bands silky pubescent outside, tube
inflated, rose—purple and glabrous inside; stamens 5, epipetaious, included, opposite sepals,
filaments hairy at the base, anthers 2-eelled. dorsifixed, dehiscing longitudinally; ovary superior,
glabrous, 4-locular with a single ovule in each loculus, style filiform with an annular disc at the
base, stigma 2-globose: fruit a dry, hard berry, 1.8—2 cm diameter, globose, apiculate with
persistent calyx. ^
Flowers from May to September.
Illustrations. Wight. Ic. PI. Ind. Orient, pi. 851. 1843—1845; Kirtikar and Basu, Indian
Med. Plants, pi. 658. 1933.
Distribution. Occurs throughout India from Assam to Mysore and in Ceylon, in the
low-country, probably cultivated. It also occurs in Java and in the Philippine Islands.
India. Sikkim: Anderson 957, Sept. 1862. Hindustan: Wallich 1363/1, 1820. Ceylon.
Thwaites CP. 2849. Central Prov., Peradeniya, Bot. Gardens* Herb. Peradeniya, July 1898.
Cuba. Santiago de las Vegas, Baker 105, Sept. 1907.
Composition. The roots yield acid resins and a tannin—like principle.
Uses. The root is regarded as an alternative and tonic. It is useful for rheumatism and
diseases of the nervous sytfem. Externally, a paste made out of the tuber is applied on abscesses
of the stomach. The leaves are antiphlogistic, rubefacient and maturative and used as poultices
for wounds and skin diseases.
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