406 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOTANY OF [ Aroidec. 
panulatum), Homalonema (Calla occulta and aromatica) also Pothos scandens, with many 
species formerly of that genus, which have now been transferred to Scindaspus; and also 
Lasia, which includes L. aculeata, Lour., and Pothos heterophyllus of Roxburgh. The 
species of Colocasia, including Arum Colocasia and nympheifolia, are cultivated in every 
part of the plains of India, as well in the north as in the south ; and Amorphophallus 
extends ina wild state even as far north as the Kheree jungle. Remusatia (Arum, Roxb.) 
vivipara, stated by Dr. Roxburgh to be a native of Malabar, exists also in Nepal, 
having been introduced by Dr. Buchanan from the latter into the Caleutta Botanic 
Garden, where it produced annually i in the rainy season abundance of the bulbiferous 
radical spikes, by which the plant is readily propagated. I have seen it in the same 
state at Mussooree in the rainy season, and afterwards producing the leaf of an Arum; 
Dr. Buchanan describes it as bearing in Nepal the common flower of the genus. 
“In tht Himalayas the different species of Arum obtained from Nepal, and described 
chiefly by Dr. Wallich in Tent. Fl. Nep. and Pl. As. Rar., have been formed into the 
genus Arisaema; ;, Arisema multicarinatum, Wall. Ic. ined. 1180; an Arum costatum 
Fl. Nep.? extends also to the Suen Hills. Arwm guttatum is now Sauromatum, 
and Thomsonia Nepalensis is formed, with Arum bulbiferum, into the genus Pythonium, 
and is found as far north as Nagkanda, and about an elevation of 8,000: or 9,000 feet. 
Some other species of the genus, as A. hastatum and insignifolium, and others, are 
found at Mussooree. A species of this family is cultivated in almost every part of 
the hills, and appears’ to belong to the genus Colocasia, but my specimens are imperfect. 
Acorus, sometimes formed into a distinct order, called Acorace@, is at other times 
united with, and forms a section of, Aroidee. The species are few in number, but 
widely diffused. Acorus Calamus, the best known, like many other aquatic plants, 
occurs both in Europe and India. I have found it in many places in the Himalayas, 
it was found in Nepal by Dr.Wallich, Rheede figures it from the Malabar coast. It 
has been supposed by many to be the Calamus aromaticus of ancient Materia Medica, 
but without sufficient consideration, as the two are described separately by Dioscorides, 
and Arabian authors give akoron as the Greek synonyme of wuj, which is the buch 
(Sanscrit vucha) of the Hindoos. Under this name I obtained the roots of this 
plant, which continues, on account of its aromatic qualities, to be extensively employed 
in Eastern medicine, and which I frequently prescribed successfully to natives in India, 
in conjunction: with bitters, especially the seed of er en as a.cure for 
the ordinary agues of the country. rt 
~The Aroidee abound in gn acrid principle, which is volatile in nature, and, thidsefore 
dissipated by heat ; being soluble in water, .it is also removed by washing, and easily 
rated from the fecula with which many of their tuberous roots abound. Hence 
several have been employed as articles of diet from very ancient times, as Colocasia 
orum, mentioned by Herodotus and Theophrastus, and remagkable as:an Indian 
plant, cultivated in Egypt, and now in most parts of the south of Europe. The roots are 
without acrimony, as\is the case with many other long cultivated: plants. They are 
5 universally 
