177 
| AN ACCOUNT OF 
VALERIANA JATAMANSI. 
THE SPIKENARD OF THE ANCIENTS. 
~ ; 
iat: Sa Pe Bic = ee ; ——— 
IT has long been a desideratum among the moderns, to know 
to what order and genus the plant belongs, which produced the 
Spikenard of the ancients. We are indebted to that learned Orien- _ 
talist, the late Sir William Jones, for having first pointed it out — 
satisfactorily ; although he confounded with it another species 
totally distinct; and from which he has taken his botanical de- 
scription and figure. This mistake arose from his not. having 
eceived perfect specimens himself; but trusting wholly to the ae= 
count and drawing given him by a friend, who was entirely un- 
versed in botany, and who therefore could not be well supposed 
to distinguish accurately two plants of the same genus. The Ja- 
tamansi or Jatamangsi belongs to thé genus Valeriana, and re- 
sembles in several respects the Celtic Nard, Valeriana Celtica Linn. 
2 The plant is perennial and cespitose. The roots are simple, per- 
pendicular, from four to six inches long; the upper half is very 
thickly covered with the reticulated remains of past leaves, resem- 
bling the hair of an animal ; the lower half is destitute of them, 
22 : 
ae 
