_Kariyát or Creyat._
=Botanical Origin=—_Andrographis[1727] paniculata_ Nees ab E.
(_Justicia Burm._), an annual herb, 1 to 2 feet high, common throughout
India, growing under the shade of trees. It is found likewise in
Ceylon and Java, and has been introduced into the West Indies. In some
districts of India it is cultivated.
[1727] _Andrographis_ from δνὴρ and γραϕὶς, in allusion to the
brush-like anther and filament.—Fig. in Bentley and Trimen’s _Med.
Plants_, part 23 (1877).
=History=—It is probable that in ancient Hindu medicine this plant
was administered indiscriminately with chiretta, which, with several
other species of _Ophelia_, is known in India by nearly the same
vernacular names. Ainslie asserts that it was a component of a famous
bitter tincture called by the Portuguese of India _Droga amara_; but
on consulting the authority he quotes[1728] we find that the bitter
employed in that medicine was _Calumba_. _Andrographis_ is known in
Bengal as _Mahā-tīta_, literally _king of bitters_, from the Sanskrit
tikta, “bitter,” a title of which it has been thought so far deserving
that it has been admitted to a place in the _Pharmacopœia of India_.
=Description=—The straight, knotty branch stems are obtusely
quadrangular, about ¼ of an inch thick at the base, of a dark green
colour and longitudinally furrowed. The leaves are opposite, petiolate,
lanceolate, entire, the largest ½ an inch or more wide and 3 inches
long. Their upper surface is dark green, the under somewhat lighter,
and as seen under a lens finely granular. The leaves are very thin,
brittle, and, like the stems, entirely glabrous.
In the well-dried specimen before us, for which we are indebted to
Dr. G. Bidie of Madras, flowers are wanting and only a few roots are
present. The latter are tapering and simple, emitting numerous thin
rootlets, greyish externally, woody and whitish within. The plant is
inodorous and has a persistent pure bitter taste.
=Chemical Composition=—The aqueous infusion of the herb exhibits a
slight acid reaction, and has an intensely bitter taste, which appears
due to an indifferent, non-basic principle, for the usual reagents do
not indicate the presence of an alkaloid. Tannic acid on the other hand
produces an abundant precipitate, a compound of itself with the bitter
principle. The infusion is but little altered by the salts of iron; it
contains a considerable quantity of chloride of sodium.
=Uses=—Employed as a pure bitter tonic like quassia, gentian, or
chiretta, with the last of which it is sometimes confounded.