454 Lieut.-Col. Madden or/ some Plants 



The name Jatamansi signifies Mocks of hnir/ sometimes simply 

 M^si; and the vernacular Balchhar denotes 'hairy staiF/ all 

 with reference to the root, which has been compared to the tail 

 of an ermine, " on account of its withered stalks and ribs of 

 leaves, cohering in a bundle of yellowish-brown capillary fibres." 

 Pliny^s description accords (N. H. xii. 26) : *' Cacumina in 

 aristas se spargunt ; . ideo gemina dote nardi spicas ac folia cele- 

 brant." Spica is a translation of the Arabic Sumbul, Hindi 

 Bal, ' an ear of corn.' Sir W. Jones, in As. Res. ii. 405-10, 

 iv. 109, where the figure (copied, except the root, by Roxburgh, 

 ib. iv. 435) with cordate radical leaves, is, as Lambert truly ob- 

 serves (/. c. p. 179), that of Valeriana Hardwickii (PI. As. Rar. 

 iii. t. 263). The roots of this very common species have the 

 same smell as those of V. officinalis, are also used medicinally, 

 and were substituted by Sir William Jones's collectors without 

 any very glaring imposture. In Pliny's time also, adulteration 

 took place by Pseudo-nard, "crassiore atque latiore folio." 

 They are called Shameo in Nepal and Kumaon, the Sanscrit 

 Shami, from Sham, Mo calm' ; proving how widespread is the 

 antispasmodic energy attributed to them. 



The aromatic-rooted Grass, Andropogon Jwardncusa {i. e. the 

 * fever- goad,' also Jwaranasaka, 'fever-destroyer'), at first taken 

 for the Spikenard*, is abundant all along the base of the Hima- 

 laya, and in the valleys of Kumaon up to 4000 feet. At a lower 

 level in the valley of the Alakananda in Garhwal, the still more 

 fragrant species. A, Calamus-aromaticus, Royle, t. 97, nardoides, 

 Nees, from which the celebrated Rusa, or Grass-oil of Nimmar, 

 is distilled, is not uncommon. Dr. Royle only traces it north 

 to Delhi. 



- "The Manjit, or Indian Madder, seems to be of two kinds: 

 ■tile Rubia cor data of Willdenow, and a species of Rubia not 

 described in the common systems of Botany. Both seem to be 

 equally fit for the purpose, and grow in the same manner. It 

 is cultivated exactly as cotton is among the hills " (p. 74). 



Catalogue, No. 354. Rubia cordifolia. 



Catalogue, No. 355. Rubia Chaya. From Bhotan. 



The first is Rubia Manjistha, Roxb. i. 374, the R. cor data of 

 Thunberg, from Japan; differing by its pentandrous flowers 

 from R. cordifolia, L., from Siberia. But this test is not satis- 

 factory, as remarked by Wight and Arnott, whose statement is 

 perfectly correct, that the flowers of R. Manjisthd are frequently 

 tetrandrous. DeCandolle (iv. 588) describes them as all pen- 

 tandrous, and those of R. cordifolia both tetrandrous and pen- 



^<5 » "The root of Andropogon muricatum" is given as a secondary mean- 

 liig of Nalada, Spikenard. 



