64 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1891. 



A LIST OF THE ODORIFEROUS GRASSES OF INDIA, 

 WITH A DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF 



ANDROPOGON. 

 By Mrs. J. C. Lisboa. 



(Read at the Society's Meeting on 31st March, 1891.) 



In my paper on the Odoriferous Grass's of India and Ceylon, read 

 at the Society's Meeting held on the 7th August, 1889, I enumerated 

 several Andropogons which are found growing wild or cultivated 

 in different parts of India and Ceylon, and which yield aromatic 

 oils and other scented products, illustrating my notes of some of 

 the grasses therein mentioned, with drawings and specimens which 

 were then available. Since then, specimens of all the known scented 

 grasses of India have come to hand, some being kindly lent by 

 Mr. Duthie of Saharanpore. These I have the pleasure of exhibiting 

 here to-day, together with the description of a new species of 

 Andropogon hitherto inedited. The following are the chief species 

 of Andropogons enumerated by me in the aforesaid paper. 



Andropogon Nardus, Linn. This magnificent tall grass is repre- 

 sented by several sub-species and varieties, some of which are confined 

 to particular countries only, and their extreme forms differ consider- 

 ably from one another, but are joined by intermediate ones. The 

 beautiful plate in Dr. Trimen and in Bentley's work, The 

 Medicinal Plants, refers, according to Professor Hackel, of Poltan, 

 Hungary, to one of these. 



The whole plant, (especially the leaves, when bruised,) is sweet- 

 scented, and grows wild in Ceylon, and is, I am informed, named by 

 the Singalese Pangirimana, or aromatic mana. It is cultivated near 

 Galle and other parts of the Island, and also in Singapore, for its oil, 

 known as Citronelle Oil. 



Andropogon JDtasianus, Munro, described by Hackel as a variety 

 or another sub-species, grows in Sylhet. It closely approaches the 

 last, differing from it by its branches being erect, not geniculate, 

 and the hermaphrodite spikelet being aristate. A specimen of this 

 is on the table. 



Andropogon distans, described as a distinct species by Nees in 

 Steudel's St/nop. Plant. Glum., Vol. I., p. 387, is considered to be a 



