1016 



plant increases too much by the creeping root to perfect seed ; in the 

 drier and warmer soil and air of a garden the fruit would perhaps 

 come to maturity, could the species be brought to thrive in such a 

 situation, which with me it refused to do. Every part of this plant 

 emits a faint but sweet and agreeable odour, altogether peculiar to 

 itself, and which, though it continues to be long exhaled, is only per- 

 ceptible under certain circumstances by momentary impressions, as 

 on entering a close room or opening a box in which a number of spe- 

 cimens are contained.* I know of nothing to which this scent can 

 be likened; perhaps that of cedar comes nearest to it, but the analogy, 

 if any, is very remote. The root of the wild plant differs much in de- 

 gree of aroma according to the soil ; with us here it has merely a faint, 

 sweetish odour like the rest of the plant, and a slightly warm, bitterish 

 taste, hardly deserving of being called aromatic, but probably acquir- 

 ing more of that character when dried. Perhaps, too, in the warmer 

 and less humid soil of a garden these qualities are alone developed in 

 the degree attributed to the species. Brotero, however, remarks that 

 the root is often inodorous as well as sweet-scented in Portugal, and 

 Mr. G. E. Smith describes his Kentish examples as possessing the pe- 

 culiar fragrance of the species in perfection. When planted in water 

 I find the herbage developed at the expense of the panicle, which 

 then becomes extremely depauperated, the spikelets assume a pale 

 green colour, and the beauty of the species is in a great measure de- 

 stroyed. From the name, English Galingale, given it by the old her- 

 balists, I think it likely to have been more frequent formerly in the 

 wild state before the country was so much drained and enclosed as it 

 is in our time, and I am convinced that were attention specially directed 

 to the search, Cyperus longus would be found in many more places 

 than it is known to grow in at present, and that it would finally be as- 

 certained to inhabit every county along the south coast from Kent to 

 Cornwall, increasing in frequency westward. It was this conviction, 

 drawn from geographical considerations, that mainly led to its disco- 

 very by myself in the Isle of Wight; the probability of its occurrence 

 in this part of England seemed to me so strong that I kept it con- 



* I remarked it to be very powerful when treading amongst the specimens at 

 Castle Mead, yet it is not given out by breaking or crushing the plant, like many 

 other scents, but is rather a subtle emanation from the whole surface, as in Malva 

 moschata. The figure of this species in E. B. is very indifferent, and conveys no idea 

 of the graceful slendemess and rich colouring of the spikelets ; the panicle, too, is 

 drawn as if erect, and is so described in our books, whereas, in fact, it is always lax, 

 and when large even drooping. 



