GENTIANACEÆ.
Ophelia Chirata, Griseb. (= Gentiana Chirayta, Roxb., and Agathotes Chirayta, Don.).
The name "Chirata" or "Chirayta," by which this plant is commonly known in India, is derived from the Sanscrit "Kirataticta." The dried stems of the Chirata have long been famed amongst the natives of India as a tonic and febrifuge; and they have also gained considerable reputation amongst European practitioners in India, who, however, have found them to be more efficacious in the cure of intermittent fever when employed in combination with the seeds of the Guilandina Bonducella, mentioned above. It is an annual plant, two or three feet high, with smooth round stems and opposite, ovate or somewhat cordate, acuminate leaves, marked with from five to seven nerves, and bears yellow flowers. Chirata is included in the Edinburgh Pharmacopœia.
Ophelia angustifolia, Don. (= Swertia angustifolia, Ham.).
The stems of this species are called "Pukaree Chirata" in the Himalayas, and are substituted for the true Chirata. The species is distinguished by its stems being somewhat four-sided, by its much narrower, sharper-pointed, obscurely three-nerved, short-stalked leaves, and by its white, violet-spotted flowers. Both this and the true Chirata are natives of the Himalayas.
Ophelia elegans, Wight.
It has recently been discovered that the stems of this South Indian species are made up into bundles in the same manner as the Himalayan Chiratas, with which they have hitherto been confounded in the bazaars. The plant, however, has a different native name, being called "Salaras" or "Salajit" by the inhabitants of the Pulney hills; but it is considered equally efficacious as a febrifuge. It has obsoletely four-sided stems, narrow, ovate-lanceolate, sessile, three-nerved leaves, tapering to a slender point, and beautiful pale-blue flowers.
SALVADORACEÆ.