GBAMINE^. 567 



Commerce. — The oil is largely exported from Singapore and 

 Ceylon, where the grass is cultivated. The shipments from the 

 Malabar Coast during the last four years were as follows : 



1887, 943 cases; 1888, 1,678 cases; 1889, 979 cases; 1890, 

 1,610 cases. The exports from Cochin have risen from 228 cases 

 in ] 884 to 2,387 cases in 1889 and 1,917 cases in 1890. A case 

 contains 12 bottles of oil, and is priced at Us. 1S\. A bottle is 

 guaranteed to hold 23 ounces of oil. 



ANDROPOGON NARDUS, Linn. 



Fig. — Bentl. and Trim., t 297. Citronelle grass {Eng.). 

 Hab.— Ceylon, Travancore, cultivated at Singapore. 



The essential oil. 



Vei 'H acu lav, — Ma a n a ( Ciug . ) . 



History, Uses, &C.— This grass is considered by some 

 botanists to be the wild form of A. citratm. Other grasses 



Kh 



■West Provinces 



and in parts of the Bombay Presidency, bnt no oil has ever 

 been distilled from these species, nor do they appear to be used 

 niedicinally by the natives. 



A, Nardus is not mentioned in any Sanskrit medical work, 

 nor do the Arabian and Persian medical writers notice it. It 



owes the name JSfa 



A, laniger, which was named v^p^os by the Greeks who invaded 



Indi 



la. 



know 



— - ^ 



Hindi names which have been 



it in the Diet. Econ. Prod, of India properly belong to 

 A. Schoermnthus or A. citrakis. 



Description.- A large perennial herb, with a long 



slightly branched, partly aerial rhizome, reaching | inch in 

 diameter, and strongly ringed with the closely-placed scars of 

 the leaf-sheaths, the remains of which persist on the upper 

 portion, and (rivino- off numerous tough root fibres. Stem 



C ""O 



reaching 6 feet or move high, erect, stout, cylindrical, solid, 

 smooth and shining, partially concealed by the leaf-sheaths, 



I 



