216 Brigade- Surgeon J. E. T. Aitchison's Notes on Products 



Ushak — uiJ^^ — Dorema Ammoniacum. 



Ustukhudus — (j*,^^^^^k^l — ustakhadus. 



A labiate, employed in medicine, the name is supposed to 

 be taken from the Greek. 



Utrcmj — ^ys\ — an orange, Citrus Aurantium. 



Valeriana Wallichiana, D'C. Valeriane.i;. 



The root-stocks of this Valerian are called in Meshad 

 sanbal-ultib, samhal-ultlh, and are imported from Afghanistan. 

 I collected this plant from the lofty rocks in the deep gorges 

 of the Kuram Valley, Afghanistan, where the roots were 

 collected and exported to Cabul under the names mdhh-ak, 

 mushk-ak, whence they were exported to India as samhal- 

 tdtih, indar-latib, indar-ultib, a-ridar-ultlb, andar-latlb, giir- 

 bdlchor-ak. Employed as a scent and in medicine. 



Vegetables — 



Both the Persians and Afghans partake largely of 

 vegetables cooked or in the raw state as part of their usual 

 diet. Those cultivated in their gardens, and of which they 

 usually make use, are beetroot, brinjals, carrots, radishes, 

 turnips, cabbages, onions, cucumbers, gourds, pumpkins, 

 endive, and lettuce, besides several pot-herbs ; potatoes are in 

 common use amongst the Persians, but these the Afghans 

 do not seem to take to. In the better class gardens of the 

 Persians, the artichoke, cardoons, and Jerusalem artichoke, 

 with tomatoes and peas of a fair quality, are to be found. 



The most remarkable of the indigenous plants which the 

 people employ as a vegetable is the Gundelta Tournefortii, 

 the young leaves and shoots of which are used in the same 

 way as we do the leaf -stems of the cardoon, and from the 

 great resemblance it bears in general characters, as well as in 

 uses, to the artichoke and cardoon, its name has apparently 

 been adopted to name the two latter, viz., kangar ; the shoots 

 of the flowering-stems of the edible rhubarb are much eaten 

 raw, as well as converted into a pot-herb ; the leaves of 

 Eremurus aurantiacus and Eremurus Olg.e are used 

 throughout the spring as the ordinary vegetable in the 

 localities where they are common ; the flowering-stem and 



