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4. Cuscuta rtflexa Roxb. P!. Corom 2: 3. 1798. (Fig. 143).
CONVOLVULACEAE
Cuscuta grandiflora Wall.—Cuscuta verrucosa Sweet—Cuscuta hookeri Sweet—Cuscuta
macrantha G. Don—Cuscuta elatior Chois.
Engl. Dodder; Sinh. Agamulancti-vcl; Tarn. Kodiyagundal, Sadadori; Hindi.
Akashabela, Amarabela; Sans. Akashabhavana, Akashapavana, Akashavalli, Amaravallari,
Amaiavela, Dusparsha, Khavalli, Nilatar, Vyomavallika.
A leafless, twining, parasitic annual with long branched, closely twining, succulent and
brittle, glabrous, pale greenish yellow stems, sometimes dotted with red; leaves absent;
flowers regular, bisexual, small, white, scented, on short, glabrous, curved pedicels, solitary or
in umbellate clusters of 2—4, or in short racemes; bracts 1.5 mm long, ovate-oblong, obtuse,
fleshy; sepals 5, free, 3 mm long, broadly oval, obtuse, glabrous and fleshy; petals 5, fused into
a more or less campanulate or urceolate corolla, tube over 6 mm long, lobes very short,
triangular, acute; scales 5, almost at the base of the corolla-tube, obovate — oblong, incurved,
fimbriate; stamens 5, inserted in the throat of the corolla-tube, filaments very short;
ovary superior, 2-locuIar with two ovules in each chamber, style solitary, short, stigmas 2, oblong;
fruit capsule over 6 mm long depressed—globose, apiculate, glabrous, dehiscent by a ring near
the base; seeds usually 2, rather large, glabrous and dull black.
Flowers during December.
Illustrations. Roxb., PI. Corom. 2: pi. 104. 1795; Kirtikar and Basu, Indian Med. Plants,
pi. 668/t. 1933: Herb. Peradeniya, drawing.
Distribution. Occurs in India, Ceylon and Malaya. In Ceylon, it is rather common in
the upper montane zone, parasitic on Strobilanthes Sp. Nuwara Eliya, Pidurutalagala, etc
India. Sikkim:7. D. Hooker Behar:./. D. Hooker. Ceylon. Central Prov., Nuwara Eliya,
Th*sites CP '922; Pidurutalagala, Herb. Peradeniya, April 1881; A. M. Silva. April 1906.
China Hongkong, Herb Hance 111.
Uses. This plant is a purgative. Externally, it is used against itch and internally for
protracted fevers, retention of wind, and induration of the liver. The stems are used for bilious
disorder-:. The seeds are carminative and applied as an anodyne.
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