BASSIA 



LATIFOLIA 



Mahua 



Chairs. 



D.E.P., 



vi., pt. iii., 

 402. 



D.E.P., 



vi., pt. iii., 

 409-13. 



Wattle. 



D.E.P., 



vi., pt. iv., 

 88 202. 



Straw Baskets. 



D.E.P., 

 i., 405 6. 

 Butter 

 Tree. 



D.E.P., 

 i., 406-15. 

 Mahua. 



BASKET AND WICKER-WORK 



designed as to throw the chief weight on the shoulders. In some of the 

 jails and asylums of India admirable willow baskets and chairs are now pro- 

 duced, but this is apparently a modern industry. Willow twigs, when pro- 

 curable, are largely used in all rural parts of the country for wattles, weirs, 

 dams and fences. The bark is often stripped off the twigs and used in place of 

 string, the twigs being then converted into charcoal, which is viewed as of 

 special merit. 



Tacca pinnatifida. The dhai, diva, periya, kanda, kanli-kund, touk-ta, 

 etc. An investigation recently conducted at the Imperial Institute into the 

 possibility of this plant being used as a braiding material, resulted negatively. 

 But the tubers are fairly extensively eaten by the hill tribes of Chota Nagpur 

 and the Central Provinces. [Cf. Forster, PI. Esc., 1786, 59; Rumphius, Herb. 

 Amb., v., t. 114; Nicholls, Excise Kept. C. Prov., 1878-9, app. D.] 



Tamarix. The jau affords long flexible twigs that are very generally 

 employed in the manufacture of baskets, brooms and wattles, especially in 

 South Panjab. Stein (Ancient Khotan, 1907, 332 et seq.) makes repeated refer- 

 ence to the tamarisk as seen in the ruins of Khotan, the specimens being 

 found in association with other objects of date 3rd to 8th centuries. Wattle 

 mattings of tamarisk plastered over were one of the chief methods of forming 

 partitions in house-construction. The pens used by these ancient peoples were 

 also made of tamarisk wood. 



Triticum, also Oryza and other straws are worked up into fancy 

 baskets, as for example in Hazara and Nepal. W. H. Gee (I.e. 14) observes 

 that the wheat-straw baskets of Hazara are of two kinds, viz. mandhaa 

 and parotas. " The former cylindrical and narrow at the base, the latter with 

 straight sides ; both are often worked in coloured designs and cost from Rs. 0-4-0 

 fco Rs. 1." Collins (Arts and Manuf. Beng., 1890, 6) says that " in the Patna 

 and Bhagalpore Divisions fancy baskets of coloured grasses are made by high- 

 caste ladies. . . . Fancy straw baskets are made in Purneah district. Leghorn 

 hate are made of the straw of spelt wheat (see p. 1084). 



Typha (see Mats and Matting, p. 777). 



Vetlveria zizanioides. The khas-khas (see p. 1106). 



[The following special works may be consulted in amplification of the particu- 

 lars here given regarding basket- ware : Hoey, Monog. Trade and Manuf. N. 2nd., 

 1880, 72-5 ; Kipling, Ind. Pb.,inJourn. Ind. Arts, 1885, i., 80 ; Lawrence. Valley 

 of Kashmir, 1895, 250, 372 ; Stuart, Man. S. Kanara, 1895, ii., 149 ; Kew Bull, 

 1899, 200 ; James, Basket Makers of California, 1901 ; O. T. Mason, Smithsonian 

 Inst. Ann. Rept., 1902, 185-548 (plates 10 to 248) ; etc., etc.] 



BASSIA BUTYRACEA, Itoxb., As. Res., 1805, viii., 477-85, 

 with coloured plate ; also Fl. Ind., ii., 527 ; Traill, Proc. Roy. As. 

 Soc., 1838, 115-7 ; Gamble, Man. Ind. Timbs., 448 ; Fl. Br. Ind., iii., 

 546 ; SABOTAGED. The Indian Butter Tree, phulwdrd, chiura, chdra, 

 cheuli, churi, yel, etc. The butter is called chiura- Jce-pina, phalel or phulwa. 

 A large deciduous tree of the Sub-Himalayan tracts from the Ganges to 

 Bhutan, ascending to altitudes of 15,000 feet. 



B. latifolia, ltoa-b., PL Coro. Coast, i., 20, t. 19; also Fl 

 Ind., ii., 526 ; Chas. Hamilton, As. Res., 1788, i., 300-19 ; Jones, 

 As. Res., 1795, iv., 285 ; Taleef Shereef (Playfair, transl.), 1833, 161 ; 

 Elliot, Fl. Andh., 1859, 70 ; Gibson, Hooker's (Kew) Journ. Bot., 1853, 

 90; Dymock, Mat. Med. W. Ind. (2nd ed.), 476-9; Campbell, Econ. 

 Prod. Chota Nagpur, No. 8401 ; Pharmacog. Ind., 1891, ii., 354-62 ; 

 Forsyth, Highlands of Central India, etc. (2nd ed.), 75 ; G. M. Ryan, 

 Comm. Value of Mhowra Seeds, in Ind. For., 1903, xxix., 543-9 ; Cooke, 

 Fl. Pres.Bomb., ii., 92; Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind., ii., 115; Fl. Br. Ind., iii., 

 544 ; Agri. Ledg., 1899, No. 12. The Mahua, Mahwa or Mowha 

 Tree, mahua, moha, mhova, matJcom, mohul, mahu, moho, irpi, irhu, ippa, 

 yeppa, illupei (illupai), hinge, punam, hanzaw, etc., etc. A large deciduous 

 tree of the forests of the central tracts of India from Western Bengal, 



116 





