318 
the wild ancestor of which we have to seek among the awned 
forms. It has very generally been assumed that the Citronella 
grass is a descendant of the wild ' Mana ' grass of the Ceylon 
Patanas, but it is unfortunate that there is no specimen 
at Kew which is definitely stated to have been collected 
in the wild state. Sir Joseph Hooker, however, who had the 
grasses of the Peradeniya herbarium at his disposal when working 
out the Gramineae for Trimen's ' Handbook of the Flora of 
Ceylon,' says* that there were three specimens of the wild Mima 
in i lut cnll.vtinn from (Jalle, Maoya, and Peradeniya, and they were 
all Hackel's Andropogon Xar<Jus, var. nihtgi riots. Willis also 
stains i hat the Mana of the Patanas is distinct from the cultivated 
( 'it :•( .nella grass, but does not say how it differs. Now there is at Kew 
a suite of excellent speci in n.. <>i th.-culiiviiti I awnhs.W. Xardns 
from Mr. Jowitt's estate at Bundarawalla, and, sent with them at 
the same time and from the same locality, and numbered 
c-oiH-iirmuly with the first, is another set which is undoubtedly 
k Ainiru/in!/on Nardus, var. nilagiricu&: Whether they grew 
wild on the estate or were in cultivation is not stated. A careful 
coBttganBOD of both sets has convinced me that this ' Andropogon 
\>ir,h,.<. var. nilagiricus' is, as Sir Joseph Hooker has stated, 
actually the mother plant of the Pengiri Mana or Citronella grass. 
1 shall treat of the wild 'Mana' in the next section. Here 
1 would only add a few words concerning the Maha Pengiri 
and Lenabatu Pengiri. Gildemeister and Hoffmann t state, mi 
Mr. Winter's authority, that the Maha Pengiri came from Malacca. 
JSthj - itronella grass is a comparatively recent introduction to 
the Malay Peninsula, and certainly does not occur there in the 
wild state, this can only mean that it has, possibly as an 
I into Ceylon from Malacca ; but 
nH^f in? n giri iS at the same time l mt ,lown ™ the old or 
-nella grass of Ceylon, it is more probable that the 
foment is due to some mistake. As to the Lenabatu variety we 
nave more precise information. It originated about 18S:> near 
Ma ma, + m South Ceylon, presumably in a plantation, and in a 
short time aim,,.; , milvlv 1Vi)lacea the old ^ Qn ^ uni of its 
]""* su much hardier. Mells§ says of it, "it is in general 
Mm.i uv.i^ I'n.iwi un oat m^ mx-mium." 
oal inflorescences of Lenabatu, I am unable 
the sMahaPen'iri ^^ ^^ near6r t0 the wild Mana tnan to 
4. Cymbopogon confertiflorus, Stapf. 
{Andropogon confertiflorus, Steud.) 
Mana (Sing.). 
vJ^LKfg T" ti0n l ment ioned 'Andropogon Nardus, 
Cit; nella% ra ' ^inhabitsTn T** 7 *^ ■ ^f*^*?? the 
toCevlon i ;,rea extending from the Nilgirii 
Z_f*}^t^ collected or observed 
I &£i v _-' ?• 243 - 
i, Vol. Oils (1900), p. 291. 
,p. 794. 
