inWEJi. 451 



sliglitly pungent wifh a flavour of ginger. The petroleum 

 ether extract was yellow and consisted of resinous and fatty 

 matters; it was partly soluble in absolute alcohol, the solution 

 givinn- a dirty-green precipitate with ferric chloride. The acid 

 other extract was partly soluble in water, and the solution gave 

 a saae-ffrccn coloration with ferric chloride, precipitated 



tannin, but gave no reaction with potassic cyanide. The 

 portion insoluble in water was nearly wholly soluble in 

 ammonia, affording a deep yellowish-brown solution, from 

 which acids precipitated yellowish flocks. The alkaline ether 

 extract contained traces of an all^aloid which failed to afford any 

 special colour reactions. 



The seeds have been stated by Dalzell and Gibson {Bombay/ 

 Flora) to afford a beautiful but evanescent dye ; we failed to 

 detect the presence of any such dye principle in either the 

 seeds or roots. The roots contain mucilaginous matter and 

 starch ; starch was also present in the seeds. 



IRIDEiE. 



IRIS GERMANICA, Li 



mn. 



¥ig.—BoL Mag., t 670; BoL Reg,, t 818. Orris root 



{Eng).y Racine cVIris {Fr.). 



Hab,— Central and Southeru Europe, Northern India, 

 and Persia. The rhizome. 



Vernacular. — Bikh-i-banafshah, Kcorc-ka-mul {Lid. Bazars). 



History, Uses, &C. — W'o have already stated (Vol. II., 

 p. 296) that wo consider Orris root to be the Pushkara-mula of 

 Sanskrit writers, though it is not now recognised as such by 

 tho modern Hindus. It appears also to be the Kusht-el-bahri 

 and Kusht-cl-hali, '^ sweet costus," of tho Arabs. The Greek 

 name Iris is probably of Persian origin, and cognate with 

 Acrsa, and probably with Arastan, an old form of Arastan, "to 

 adorn, to obey." Among Sanskrit synonyms for Tushkara- 

 mula, we find Padma-pushkara " blue lotus," Pushkardnghrija 

 "born of the lotus rout," Pushkarahva « chalLugii*- tho 



