568 



ANDROPOGON CITRATUM. (Poaceae.) 33786. Roots of an oil- 

 grass from Trivandrum, Travancore, southern India. Presented by 

 Mr. N. Kunjan Filial, Director of Agriculture, Travancore. "A 

 grass yielding oil in a fairly large quantity. It is locally 

 known as Sambarapulla, (being used for flavoring butter-milk). 

 This grass is more common in Ceylon and along the East coast. 

 In the interior of Travancore it does not occur in abundance. 

 There is reason to believe that the grass came from Ceylon be- 

 cause near Cape Comorin and up to a place called Arakkanikulam 

 the grass occurs in abundance. Another peculiarity is that 

 while I have never seen this grass in flower in Ceylon either 

 under cultivation or in a native condition, it flowers freely 

 amidst the boulders of Arakkanikulam on either side of the main 

 road and also near the cape in Marathuvamala. This I think is 

 due to its transport into a hotter locality. The boulders get 

 heated and the grass lying between gets 'forced' as plants are 

 in hot houses in other countries. When I saw the grass last 

 time it was getting a disease corresponding to the black rust 

 of cholam (maize). The pest was just beginning. The plants 

 which I have selected are free. This grass is mixed with other 

 Andropogons and distilled. The industry is in the hands of the 

 uneducated and no sorting of varieties is done, because knowl- 

 edge is absent." (Filial.) For distribution later. 



ANDROPOGON NARDUS . ; Poaceae.) 33787. Roots of an oil- 

 grass from Trivandrum, Travancore, southern India. Presented 

 by Mr.N. Kunjan Filial, Director of Agriculture, Travancore. 

 "A grass very common all over Travancore, except at great ele- 

 vations and very near the sea coast. In soft alluvial loam and 

 under careful cultivation this grass grows to a height of 6 or 

 8 feet. This grass can be very easily identified by a light 

 magenta tinge from the bottom upwards. The spikes are short 

 and the leaves are narrow. It is locally known as chukku-nari- 

 pullu, (grass smelling like Zinziber officinale). In Travan- 

 core I do not know of many places where this grass is taken up 

 for cultivation. Grass is collected from the jungle by women 

 getting between 4 and 5 chuckrums (2-3 annas) a day and by men 

 getting 7 chuckrums (4 annas) a day. A monster vessel of cop- 

 per is installed as a 'primitive' vat. In one day, one and a 

 half bottles of oil could be distilled. Tne prices vary from 

 Rs . three to Rs . six for a bottle of 24 ounces. One Mr. A. F. 

 Sanderson, the then Deputy Conservator of Forests, and Mr. 

 Miller, a manager of the Vellanad plumbago mines, made an at- 

 tempt to open an estate of oil grass. They went on for some- 

 time unmindful of outside talk, and collected a fair quantity 

 of oil, but the business was dropped because it was taken up 



