1888-89.] Source of Badsha, or Royal Salep. 439 



lost most of their contents might be seen by their shrivelled- 

 up and contracted condition, after having lain a few days in 

 the spirit. Dr Maefarlane, who kindly prepared the micro- 

 scopic sections at Edinburgh, thinks with me that in all 

 probability the grannlar matter that so fills these utricular 

 vessels yields the mucilage, on account of which the bulb is 

 employed as a Salep. 



In conclusion, the results of my investigations as to the 

 source of Badsha or Eoyal Salep may be summed up in a few 

 words. That we know a species of Allium, the bulb of 

 which is considered by the natives of the country where it 

 gTows, to be a Salep ; that the fresh bulbs of this, in general 

 appearance and in microscopic structure, correspond to certain 

 specimens of a drug known to us as Badsha-Salep. That all 

 these specimens of the dried Badsha-Salep, though varying 

 in size and odour, appear equally to be the products of an 

 Allium, and that the differences which exist in the bulbs 

 may be fully accounted for by difierence in species. 



As far as we know at present, the trade in Badsha-Salep 

 seems to lie between Southern Afghanistan and India ; in 

 support of this I could hear nothing of the product, nor was 

 it known near Herat or Meshed, the great centres of trade 

 of North-West Afghanistan and North-East Persia ; and that 

 it is conveyed by Afghans along the various routes to India, 

 chiefly to Bombay and Karrachi, as well as to Lahore and 

 Simla, at both of which places I have myself obtained it. 



The little knowledge we have of the distribution of Allium 

 Macleanii is, that it was sent from Cabul, and Dr Wilson 

 Johnstone's Allium, " said to produce Salep," was collected in 

 Afghanistan on the route between the Kojak Pass, Kandahar, 

 and Cabul. In all likelihood the latter was collected in the 

 same locality as the former, as both officers were with the 

 same expedition. 



(Since this paper was in print, I have been able to come 

 across a list of the plants that I identified at Kew for Dr 

 Wilson Johnstone, and found that his Nos. 5, 17 were 

 Allium rdbustum, Kar. et Kir., with the note " Salep-misree ;" 

 besides his No. 3 (bulbs only), which were the bulbs of an 

 Allium, collected on the Altimore Pass in April 1880, and 

 which he had noted as " Orchis, Salep-misree." Some of these 

 bulbs were alive, and were handed over to the gardens at Kew.) 



