176 BOMBAY NATURAL HISTOEY SOCIETY. 



Aracece and also various trees bearing plum-like fruits ; the second 

 is the name of JEschynomsne aspera, Hibiscus esculentus and several 

 plants having similar flowers, such as Thespesia populnea, &c. 



The Marathi names of plants, like the Hindi and Guzarathi names, 

 are many of them of Sanskrit origin, and as well as the non-Sanskrit 

 names, are mostly descriptive of some property or peculiarity of 

 appearance possessed by the plant j e.g., wm^sfZRT (Tiger's-mouth) is 

 Qloriosa superba, ^SB'^^tj-oET (Rattle-pod Dingala) is Crotalaria 

 Leschenaultii, *?rr%?r and similar names are applied to nettles and 

 such plants as irritate the skin, ^F¥PTT/ or (Fairies' pumpkin) is Luffia 

 echinata, &c 



With regard to Sanskrit names of plants their identification is 

 often a hopeless task, owing to the number of different plants to 

 which similar names have been given. Thus Amara means Euphorbia 

 Tirucalli and Tiaridium indicum, Amard Panicum dactylon and 

 Tinospora cordifolici, Amara-pushpa Saccharum spontaneum, Pan- 

 danus odoratissimus and Mangifera indica. Amritd, essentially 

 the same name, means Phyllanthus Emblica, Terminalia Chebula, 

 Tinospora cordifolia, Piper longum, Ocimum sanctum, Citrullus 

 Colocynthis, &c. 



In this neighbourhood Amarvel, Ambarvel or Amritvel would be 

 understood to mean Tinospora cordifolia, a plant which really deserves 

 the name of Amara. 



Marathi names are not free from ambiguity ; thus we have several 

 Bats' -ears, Undirachekan or Undirkani, in no way related to one an- 

 other generically, and such vague terms as "the white tree, " " th e 

 black creeper," "the sour bush*' are not infrequent. 



Many plants have the same names as cultivated ones, to which 

 they bear a certain resemblance, with the addition of Jangli, Ran, 

 Van or Vera, words meaning { wild/ e.g., Tppff ^tir, wm^i, Wr ^3T^ 

 ^FTWrf Wild Bhenda, Wild Lablab Bean, Wild Turmeric, Wild 

 Jasmine, names applied to Hibiscus tetraphyllus, Gylista scariosa, 

 Curcuma aromatica, Salisb. and Clei'odendron inerme. Other dis- 

 tinguishing adjectives in common use are %%, equivalent to our 

 Fairy, 3fT£ Thorny, gr? Bitter, cutset Black, ??rrrr Salt, *ff¥ 

 Sweet, %qTTT Four-cornered, €\f\fr Mountain, ?TR3T Red, tfrr^ST 

 Great, *TRT5T Small, ?TFr Snake-like, <rfen White, q^r^t Hill, 

 ftfaoCT Yellow, *rf Ground, i.e., procumbent or dwarf ; *TfT 

 Great, ifter Large, U^T Royal, *?FT and ^ Red, n*T belonging 

 to Ram, ^RT Royal, FjfPT Small, Fyn* Red, fwr^rft Foreign, RPT 



