PRODUCTS AT THE ROYAL GARDENS, KEW. 409 
iree of Sierra Leone. The product is apparently too unfamiliar 
to commercial men to enable any positive opinion to be expressed 
as to whether Ogea gum will be useful to the manufaeturer or not. 
But it is thought not to be without promise for the purpose of 
varnish-making. 
4. Bhaib (Pollinia eriopoda, Hance). 
In 1879 Mr. Duthie, the Superintendent of the Government 
Botanical Garden, Saharunpore, wrote to Kew :—“ I am sending 
by this mail a specimen of a Cyperaceous-looking plant which I 
have been asked to identify. It is a native of the Nepal Terai, 
and the district of Gorakhpur, at the extreme east of these pro- 
vinces. Its native name is Bankas; itis largely used for making 
ropes &c. It has been sent to me three times, but on each occa- 
sion without flowers. It is said to flower only once in three 
years." 
The specimens sent afforded no clue except to an expert in 
grasses. We therefore forwarded them to the well-known autho- 
rity, the late Major-General Munro, C.B., whose knowledge of 
the family was remarkably minute. He promptly identified 
the plant with Spodiopogon angustifolius (Trin. in Act. Petrop. 
Vi, ii. p. 3800; Spec. Gram. t. 336). He added :—“ It is Andro- 
pogon involutus, Steudel, and A. notopogon, Nees and Steudel. It 
is mentioned by name only as Spodiopogon laniger in Royle's 
‘Illustrations ' (p. 416). It is very common in all parts of the 
Lower Himalayas; and I have also seen it from Afghanistan, col- 
lected by Griffith." 
Beside rope, Bhaib grass is used for the manufacture of string 
matting and a variety of other articles, of which a collection was 
sent to the Kew Museum in 1880 by Mr. Duthie (see ‘ Kew 
Report,’ 1880, p. 60). 
This grass, Dr. Brandis, late Inspector-General of Forests to 
the Government of India, has pointed out to us, is identical 
with the Eriophorum comosum, noticed in the * Kew Report’ for 
1878 (p. 45) as a possible paper-material ; and he has been so 
good as to refer us to the following published note of his on the 
subject :— 
“The export of the grass known as Bhabar, Bhaib, Bankas 
(Andropogon involutus, not, as has often been erroneously stated, 
Eriophorum comosum), from the Siwálik hills and from tracts of 
broken raviny ground outside the hills, is very considerable from 
