274 ODOROGKAPHIA. 



known in Hindee and Bengalee as Tagar, in Punjab dialect as 

 Mushk-i-Wali, also as Bala, and in the district of Bhutan as 

 as Pampc. He states that this fragrant drug, Tagara, is frequently 

 mentioned by Sanskrit writers, and other names for it are 

 Nandyavdrta, Nundini, Varpini, Nadhushakhya and Pinditayara. 

 The value of the dried root in India is stated to be 7 lis. per 

 Surat maund of 3 /J lbs. Other plants of the same genus possess 

 odorous properties. 



Valeriana Celtica, Lin., Spec, p. 46; Jacquin Collectanea 

 ad Botanicam, i., t. 24, f. 1, the " Celtic Nard," is a hardy perennial, 

 a native of the Swiss Alps and the Tyrol, — the country of the 

 ancient Celts. The plant is glabrous, the leaves quite entire, 

 obtuse : the radical ones obovate ; the cauline ones linear. The 

 stems are simple, two to 3 inches high ; the Howers disposed in 

 interrupted racemose spikes, white inside, reddish outside; the 

 fruit hairy. The roots are black, sweet-scented and highly prized 

 by Eastern nations for the purpose of aromatising their baths. 

 These roots are collected by the Styrian peasants with no slight 

 difficulty and labour, and are exported by way of Trieste to Turkey 

 and Egypt, whence they are conveyed to India and Ethiopia. 



The odour of essential oil of Styrian Valeriana Celtica is very 

 powerful, resembling a mixture of Eoman Chamomile oil and, 

 Patchouh. Its sp. gr. at 15^ C. is 0-967. It boils at from 250'' to 

 300^ C. The root, as met with in trade, is usually weighted with 

 80 per cent, of earth adherent to its fine fibres ; and is frequently 

 adulterated with roots of Valeriana sexatilis, found in the same 

 localities, and a false Xard with a fibrous surface much resemljling 

 the true lY. Jatamansi. The yield of essential oil from tlie roots 

 of Y. Celtica (when freed from the adherent earth) is 1 per cent. 



Valeriana sexatilis, Lin., Spec, p. 45; Jacquin, Florae 

 Austriacct Icones, iii., t. 267 ; Jacquin, Hortus botanicus vindo- 

 bonensis, p. 204 ; D. C. Flore Francaise, iv., No. 3324 ; Bertolini, 

 Amoenitates Italics, p. 326 ; Krocker, Flora Selesiaca renovate, Xo. 

 52, t. 6 ; Plukenett, Phytographia, t. 232, f. 2.* This also is a hardy 

 perennial, native of the Alps, Austria and Italy and found in the 

 same regions as V. Celtica, as on the high mountains of Mont 



* See also Cliatin, "Etudes sur les Valerianees "'- These pour le Doctorat 

 en Medecine, Paris, 1871. 



