320 ODOKOGRAPHIA. 



many dark-coloured villous fibres, which when bruised emit a 

 fragrant odour. The culms are three to four feet high, sub-rotund 

 at the base, three-cornered above, straight and naked at the base. 

 Its naked delicate form, small and compound umbel, slender leaves 

 and scanty involucre, immediately distinguish it from all the other 

 Indian species. It is met with in damp places in Bengal, Oudh, 

 and occasionally in the Punjab, but it is by no means so common 

 as C. rotundus. 



Besides being used as a perfume for the hair, the rhizomes are 

 used in dyeing and impart a scent to the fabric. Arabian and 

 Persian writers mention this Indian Cyperus, but consider it to be 

 inferior to G. rotundus. There are two kinds of " Nagur-Mootha " 

 met with in the Bombay market, " Surat " and " Kathiawar," the 

 first is heavier and more aromatic than the second. The value of 

 the Surat is 2 rupees per maund of 37 J lbs, and that of the 

 Kathiawar 1^ rupees. The Surat " Nagur-Mootha " is probably 

 obtained from Eajputana, where the plant is common in low wet 

 places. 



Two species only of Cyperus are natives of Britain, both of which 

 are restricted to certain districts, and not found out of England. 

 The C. longus, which Gerarde calls the " English Galingale," is said 

 by him to possess "a most sweet and pleasant smell when it is 

 broken." On account of its perfume, which some consider analogous 

 to that of the violet, it is still used in compound perfumes, and is 

 occasionally added to lavender-water. It is curious that the 

 Scirpus maritiimis is figured by Gerarde as the round " salt-marsh 

 Cyperus," it having also tuberous roots. He notes that it grows 

 plentifully in Shipey and Tenet, as Sheppey and Thanet were then 

 called. In the portion of the herbaceous ground at the Royal 

 Gardens, Kew, devoted to medicinal plants, the elegant sprays of 

 cyperus lovgus are very ornamental in the flowering season of the 

 plant, — about the middle of August. The odour of the diied root 

 is considered somewhat analogous to that of violet or orris, and 

 yet it is different from either of them. The odour of orris 

 Sipprcaches to that of violet, but it is not so pure a type, not so 

 simple, and is in fact a compound odour. It is possible that but 

 very few plants yield simiole odours. It has recently been pointed 

 out by Jacques Passy in a memoir read at a meeting of the French 

 Academy of Sciences,* that experiments prove that even pure 

 * Comptes Kendus, 31st October, 1892, cxv., p. 669. 



