NAT. ORDER ZYGOPHYLLACEÆ.
TRIBULUS TERRESTRIS.
Sans. Gokshuri. Ikshugandhá.
Vern. Gokhuru, Beng. Hind.
This plant is also called Sthala sringátaka and Trikantaka, from the resemblance of its fruits to those of Trapa bispinosa and from their being armed with three spines. The entire plant but more particularly the fruits are used in medicine. They are regarded as cooling, diuretic, tonic and aphrodisiac and are used in painful micturition, calculous affections, urinary disorders and impotence. The fruits constitute an ingredient of Dasamula (see Desmodium gangeticum).
A decoction of the fruits is given with the addition of yavakshára (impure carbonate of potash), in painful micturition. A decoction of the entire plant is given with silájatu (a bituminous substance) and honey, in the same affection. Equal parts of gokhuru and sesamum seeds, taken with goat’s milk and honey, is said to cure impotence arising from bad practices.
Only the first two paragraphs are transcribed; the article continues with a recipe onto p. 126. The Sanskrit names in Devanagari and the Sanskrit verses in the footnotes are not transcribed, nor the superscript note numbers. Words hyphenated across a line break are joined.