Typhacee. } THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS. 407 
universally cultivated in India, and known there under the names of kuchoo and gagiee. 
Arum nympheifolium, which Dr. Roxburgh considers only a variety of C. antiguorum, 
is but rarely cultivated in Bengal. , Arum indicum, man-kuchoo and man-gurt of the 
Bengalese, is a species much cultivated about the huts of the natives for its esculent 
stems and ‘small pendulous tubers. Arwm campanulatum, now Amorphophallus, O| of 
the Bengalese, and which deserves to be called the Telinga potato, is also much culti- 
vated, especially in the northern Cirears according to Dr. Roxburgh, where it is highly 
esteemed for the wholesomeness and nourishing quality of its roots. In the Himalayas, 
the species which I have called Colocasia himalensis, forms the principal portion of 
the food of the Hill-people ; so Colocasia macrorhizon and esculentum, forming the Tara, 
‘Taka, Taya, and Kopeh, ‘and cocoa-roots, eddoes, and yams, of the Pacific and other 
islands, yield a considerable portion of the food of the inhabitants. The stalksand leaves 
also of some of the.species are eaten in many places; those of Arwm sagittifolium are 
said to be called chou Caraibe; so also in the south of Europe, Arisarium vulgare, and 
A. Dioscoridis, which is perhaps only a variety of A. italicum, are occasionally eaten; but 
even Arum maculatum, and: other acric& species, deprived of their acridity, are sometimes 
made to yield food in times of scarcity. ‘Some of these, however, from their acridity 
and. irritating nature, have been used asvesicatories, Arum maculatum has been used 
medicinally even from the time of Hippocrates; Zyphonium orixense having exceed- 
ingly acrid ‘roots, is, when fresh, applied in India by the:natives in cataplasm, to discuss 
or bring forward tumors; Dr. Roxburgh pronounces it to be certainly a most powerful 
‘stimulant; other spécies are: likewise employed, as A. montanum, Roxb., (macrohizon, 
Ainslie). The plant called: by the latter Dracontium polyphyllum, is exhibited inter- 
nally when. its acrimony has been subdued, it is considered antispasmodic, and is also 
said to: be useful in asthmatic cases. Anemmenagogue: is said‘to be prepared from. it 
in the Society Islands, | Scindaspus officinalis, guj-pippul of the natives, forms an article 
of considerable repute in Hindoo Materia: Medica;: it is described,as:acrid, diaphoretic, 
and anodyne, but the»statements of authors differ on‘the subject. 
190. TYPHACE, 
Typhacee, or the Bull-rush. tribe, are sometimes united with Facinan and some- 
times made a section of Arvideg, butiare now kept separate from both by most botanists. 
They are found chiefly in the marshes and ditches of the temperate parts of the northern 
hemisphere, but like many othersaquatic plants, they occur also in’ various parts of 
the world. Zypha, common in, Europe.and N. America, is:found: also in: the West 
Indies, §S. America, and N. Holland. 7, elephantina,: and: the species, which’ Dr. 
Roxburgh identifies with the European 7. angustifolia, are found in the most southern,’ 
as well as in the northern, parts of India, the latter species is: found in Siberia, in the 
Tauro-Caucasian region, and also in New Holland;: Mr. Brown inquires. whether: it 
be identical with the species found in St.Domingo. Sparganiwm is found in most parts 
of the world, as in-Europe, N. America, and New Holland, (indeed, the same species, 
S. angustifolium, 
