GBAMINEjE. 579 



According to the Panchatantra, Durva was born from the 

 hairs of a cow ; in a strophe quoted by Bohtlingk {Incl Spr., 

 iuy 292]), the leaf is described as the ornament of the Diirva^ 

 like the flower of the tree, independence the ornament of man, 

 and the husband the ornament of the wife ; happy are the 

 gazelles who eat the Durva, for they see not the face of rich 



fools. 



in 



in 



epistaxis. The bruised grass is a popular application to 

 bleeding wounds. The Indo-Portuguese call it gmmina, and 

 use it as a substitute for Triticiim repem^ L., which is generally 

 considered to have been the aypcaa-ns of the Greeks^ and Gramen 

 of the Romans, though some authorities are of opinion that 

 both T. repens and Cynodon dadylon were used indiscriminately 

 by the ancients. 



Description. — The roots are tough and creeping, almost 

 woody, with smooth fibres. Stems also creeping to a great 

 extent, matted, round, jointed, leafy, very smooth. Leaves 

 tapering, sharp-pointed, ribbed, hairy, a little glaucous ; with 

 long striated smooth sheaths, and a hairy stipula. Flowering 

 branches a span high, leafy, simple, terminating in 4 or 5 

 nearly equal, crowded, erect, many-flowered linear spikes ; the 

 common stalk of each triangular, roughish ; flat and slightly 

 bordered on one side, along which the nearly sessile, shining, 

 purplish flowers are ranged in two close alternate rows. The 

 corolla is longer than the calyx, very much compressed, opposite 



^th respect to the latter. 



ZEA MAYS, Li^n. 



Fig. — Lam., III.^ t. 749; Bentl and Trim., t. 296. Maize, 

 ^an Corn {Eng.), Mais, Ble turc [Fr.). 



Hab. — S. America and West Indian Islands. The 



stigmi 



^mia(^«/ar,-.Makkai, Bhuta {S:\ 



Makk 



Makku 



