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22. Phyilanthus urinaria Linn. Sp. PI. 892. 1753. (Fig. 212).
EUPH0RB1ACEAE
Phyilanthus leprocarpus Wight—Phyilanthus alatus Bl.—Phyilanthus cantoniensis Hornem.
Sinh. Ratpitawakka; Tarn. Shivappunelli; Hindi. Hazarmani, Lalbhuinanvalah; Sans.
Adhyanda, Ajata, Ajuta, Amala, Aphala, Aruha, Bahupatra, Bahuphala, Bahupushpa, Charati,
Chorata, Dalasparshini, Dridhapadi, Hilolika, Jada, Jharika, Jhatamala, Mala, Nilolika,
Putrashronika, Shiva, Sukshmadala, Sukshmaphaia, Tali, Tamalika, Tamalini, Tamravalli,
Uchchata, Vishaghni, Vishvaparni, Vitunnaka, Vituntika, Vrishya.
An annual herb with an erect, very slightly branched, slender, somewhat hairy stem, 30—
60 cm high, leaf-bearing branchlets short, flattened or slightly winged; leaves simple, alternate,
numerous, closely placed, distichously imbricate, nearly sessile, 7—15 mm long, 2.5—5 mm
broad, oblong, rounded at base, apiculate, pubescent along the margin, paler or silvery beneath;
stipules I—2 mm long, peltate, very acute: flowers regular, unisexual, monoecious, apetalous,
axillary, very minute, nearly sessile, solitary; male flowers: 1.5 mm across, yellowish white;
sepals 6, distinct, imbricate with 6 glandular discs in between; stamens 3, filaments connate,
anther cells parallel dehiscing longitudinally; female flowers: sepals 6, free, imbricate, about
0.6 mm long, oblong, reddish along the middle; ovary superior, 3-locular with two ovules in
each loculus, styles 3, bifid; fruit about 3 mm diameter, depressed globose, scarcely lobed,
muricate with 3 crustaceous 2-seeded cocci, seeds transversely furrowed.
Flowers all the year round.
Illustrations. Wight. Ic. PI. Ind. Orient, pi. 1895,,/ig. 4. 1852; Kirtikar and Basu, Indian
Med. Plants, pi. 859fl. 1933; Herb. Peradeniya, drawing.
Distribution. Occurs throughout India, Ceylon, Burma, Malaya, etc. It is a common
weed in Ceylon on waste ground in the low-country.
India. Bengal: J. D. Hooker; Calcutta, Herb. Bot. Ceylon. Thwaites CP. 2137; Eastern
Prov., Batticaloa, Arianayagam, Oct. 1947; Central Prov., Peradeniya, Getambe, John Singho,
July 1925. Maldive Islands. Heddufuri and Horsburgh Atolls, Gardiner, 1899—1900. Japan.
Nagasaki, Oldham 737. 1862.
Composition. This plant contains an alkaloid.
Uses. Used as a diuretic in "dropsical affections, in gonorrhoea and in urinogenital
troubles. In La Reunion it is given as'a drink:for dysentery and cystitis. The root is given to
children suffering from insomnia.
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