,r\/*> - National Science Foundation

16. Jntropho podagrica Hook., Bot. Mag. pi 4376. 1848. (Fig. 206).
Sinh. Wisha-kumbha.
EUPHORBIACEAE
Crooked-stemmed, single or scantily branched perennial shrub, 0.7—1.5 m tall with a
crown of leaves and inflorescences at the top; stem swollen at the base, rough with prominent
leaf scars and persistent stipular strands; leaves simple, alternate, peltate, 11—23 cm long,
12—26 cm broad, palmate and deeply pinnatifid into 3 or 5 lobes, glabrous on both sides, dark
green above and ash green below, lobes broadly ovate, obtuse, entire, undulate; petioles stout,
reddish green, 14—27 cm long; stipules lacerate, persistent, flowers numerous, regular,
1.2—l.S cm diameter, unisexual, monoecious, orange red in stout peduncled, large, axillary
cymes; female flowers few in axils of main bracts of the peduncle; calyx cup-shaped, 5-lobed,
lobes erect, rounded; petals 5, free, overlapping regularly, segment obovate or oblong; male
flowers: stamens 8, filaments continued at base having 5 yellow glands united into a
ring; female flowers: ovary superior, 3.5 mm long, ovate with similar glands, 3- locular with
a single ovule in each loculus, style short, trifid with three, bilobed, green stigmas; fruit capsule
1.7 cm long, oblong.
Flowers throughout the year.
Illustrations. Curtis, Bot. Mag. pi 4376. 1848.
Distribution. A native of Panama and now cultivated in many village gardens owing to
its medicinal value.
Uses. A valuable snake-bite cure.
221