JANUARY 1 TO MARCH 31, 1914. 25 



hooked peduncles glabrous, curved downward almost like a spiral, somewhat 

 flattened, usually opposite a leaf, often with the portion of the branch above it 

 more or less aborted, so as to make it appear terminal; calyx three parted, 

 the divisions ovate-acute; petals six, ovate lanceolate, brownish red on the 

 upper part, with broad claws, woolly or pubescent (cotoneux), concave 

 within and constricted between the claws and the limb, the three outer petals 

 about three-fourths of an inch long, somewhat larger than the inner, and rela- 

 tively broader ; ovaries about 8 to 12, gradually tapering upward to the obtuse 

 stigmatic apex, clothed with minute hairs, and containing two basal collateral 

 erect ovules ; fruits several, rounded ovoid, abruptly pointed at the apex, nearly 

 sessile, about the size of a walnut inclosed in its hull, at length smooth, lightly 

 punctate, and enclosing two oblong seeds truncated at the base rising side by 

 side from the base, more or less compressed and bearing a marginal groove 

 around the periphery of the hard bony testa. This species was described by 

 Lamarck from specimens collected by Sonnerat in the East Indies and Mada- 

 gascar. Artabotrys uncinatus is frequently planted in the warm regions of the 

 Eastern Hemisphere for the sake of its fragrant flowers." (W. E. Safford.) 



37014. Ischaemum binatum (Retz.) Buse. 

 (Spodiopogon angustifolius Trin.) 



From Calcutta, India. Presented by Mr. D. Hooper, Economic Botanist to 

 the Botanical Survey of India. Received January 23, 1914. 



" This grass is a wild plant, chiefly produced by root cuttings from old 

 clumps, and its seeds are thus seldom, if ever, harvested. They have to be 

 produced by special requisition, but the plant is abundant in hilly localities, 

 where the simple ciiltivators seldom care to depart from their established 

 primitive methods." (Hooper.) 



"A perennial grass, plentiful in drier tracts of India, from Chota Nagpur and 

 Rajmahal to Nepal and Garhwal, also throughout the plains northward, viz, in 

 the Central Provinces, Central India, and Kajputana to the. Punjab, Kashmir, 

 and Afghanistan, ascending to altitudes of 7,000 feet. The grass, from the most 

 ancient times, in the localities where it abounds, has been extensively used for 

 making ropes, string, and mats, and utilized in the construction of rope bridges, 

 and to some extent takes the place of jute in agricultural sacking. 



" Sir D. Brandis was the first to recognize that Royle, Wallich, and others 

 were in error in overlooking the grass Ischaemum as the most important, if not 

 the true hhabar. Stewart {Jour. Agri. Hort. Soc. Ind., 1863, xiii, 293), while 

 acknowledging his indebtedness for this correction, expressed the opinion that 

 the grass should in the future play an important part as a paper material ; 

 he was thus apparently the first to suggest that use for the grass. Duthie led 

 to a true identification botanically, and Sir George King pioneered the trade 

 as a paper material. In the Annual Report for the Botanic Gardens of Cal- 

 cutta for 1893-94, he tells us that he had sent home in 1873 samples of the grass 

 to a paper maker in Scotland, who reported favourably on it, and again in 

 1877 had furnished the late Mr. Routledge, through the India Office, with a con- 

 signment for experiment in Sunderland. Investigations were also made in 

 India from 1882, the first by Mr. Deveria, and finally by the Bally Mills Com- 

 pany (Ltd.) and others, until the grass became firmly established as a paper 

 material. 



" The Kew Bulletin and the Indian Forester have devoted much attention to 

 this subject for some years past, and the Annual Administration Reports of 



