CREEPING PANIC GRASS 



CYNODON 



DACTYLON 



Dub 

 rrfumd CHI. 



Ginger-gnu* 

 11 - 



>,.< (-..imtiA tin- prex-iit plant i> NIMH- .-,\\.-i-tl\ p< 1 1 nmed than ill others, 

 \aniplc. 111 t In- \ ii imt \ .it' Kaualpindi. 1 >ut lu<- tolls us that a " perfume 

 maiiuia.-t nr.-d in. 111 n, ami the aromatic oil is sometimes uaed M a cooling 

 , In in.'." I'll" authors df tho Pharmacographia Indica (Hi., 558) mention that 

 id.- time of ili.- Tiihiat el iiiiimmin (ul)Out 1600 A.D.) a .li-till.-.l water W&H 

 I' rum '.khir and apparent ly the oil of <'. Mnt-tinl wan then unknown, if the 

 not u-.-il indiscriminately for '. ntirilui an. I t. -, i, ..,.< nth, ,* 

 tHnl it is liflii-M-.l that the variability of rusu oil may to some extent be duo to 

 -i l.t-iiiL,' mixed with '. Jim-tini ami hoth distilled together, or to the oil 

 rosent plant having been mixed with t hut of ru#a (palmarosa). In fact, Mixed with 

 ,..! .imk' to most authors on essential oils, this is very possibly the chief source HUM. 



i tho " ginger-grass oils " of commerce (Gildemeister and Hoffmann, 

 Oil*, _'*.->). It pure it is valued at 2*. 3d. per Ib. Schimmell <fe Co. say, 

 )ur examinai i.ms have proved that it is a pure distillate deserving absolute 

 id.-itce. Never has this oil been on the market in such fine quality aa at 

 " (Semi-Ann. Sept., 1904, 44-8). Gildemeister and Hoffmann (I.e. 300) 

 it has the sp. gr. of 0'915 at 15 and its odour recalls that of elemi. It distils 

 i I TO' and 250. The statement that an oil is not prepared from *. Jtrai-- 

 ,, ,,+n would, t horefore, appear incorrect. But the roots and lower stems which 

 atituted the Schasnanthua of the ancients would seem not to be collected in India 

 any material extent at the present time. Garcia do Orta (1563) was the first 

 1 iean writer to refer to that product in connection with India. He tells 

 that it came from Muscat, was known as " Herba de Mascat," and was used 

 the Portuguese in India, but not by the Natives. He makes no mention of 

 of the essential oils derived from this or the allied grasses. 

 Mut in spite of the fact that so great an authority as Sir William Jones re- 

 iiated hotly Blane's opinion that the Nardus of many authors was in reality 

 .in-ni-iinfii-.il. I am strongly inclined to agree that a too literal acceptance 

 Jones' view may be misleading and has possibly in the past induced error. 

 iy (Hist. Nat., bk. 12, ch. 12 (Holland, transl.), 364) says the " Nardw spread- 

 into certain spikes and ears whereby it hath a twofold use both as a spike and 

 a leaf." Apicius speaks of the spica indica being used in sauces and costly 

 ies, but this may have been t: ritrattiM the plant that I have spoken of as 

 edible lemon-grass. Paulus sEgineta (Adams, transl., iii., 265) derived his 

 ormation mainly from Galen, who draws again on Dioscorides and speaks of 

 purely as a drug and ointment. It seems highly probable, therefore, that the 

 fardus of the ancients was different from the Jatamansi of the Sanskrit authors, 

 though the plant known to botanists as Xnr<to*tacHyH Jttiiimii*i doubtless 

 the spikenard. Garcia de Orta (Coll., 1. ; also in Ball, Proc. Roy. Ir. Acad., 

 14), followed by most of the older Indian travellers, speaks of the Nardu* as 

 lined from the plains of India, and can only be referring to one or two 

 .ies of <'ijini>oiHit/<ni t certainly not to the alpine \artioHtncHyn. 



CYNODON DACTYLON, Per*. ; FL Br. Ind., vii., 288 ; D.E.P., 

 >ntius, Hist. Nat. et Med. Ind. Or. in Piso, Ind. Utri. re Nat. et Med., " 678-81. 

 148 ; Rheede, Hart. Mai, xii., 47 ; Jones, As. Res., 1795, iv., 248-9, Dub-grass. 

 11 ; Duthie, Fodd. Grass. N. Ind., 52 ; Pharmacog. Ind., iii., 577-8 ; 

 sboa, Bomb. Grass., 104-6, t. 57 ; Rept. Agri. Chem. Mysore State, 1901-2, 

 Creeping Panic Grass or Doorwa, Bermuda Grass ; dub, daurva, 

 bla, kabbar, talla, burdwa, chibbur, dhobi-ghds, kali ghds, haridli, arugam- 

 rilla, etc. A perennial creeping grass which flowers all the year round. 

 3ws everywhere throughout India except perhaps in the sandy parts 

 Western Panjab, where it is rare. 



Lisboa says this grass is now generally spread in the settled parts of Australia, 

 ere it may have been introduced with cultivation. According to Vasey (Rept. 

 ses U.S., 1883, 54-6, t. 59) it talces the place in the Southern States of the 

 lous blue grass of the more northerly States of America. In India it is 

 ticularly abundant on roadsides and delights in an admixture of sand, gravel 

 and ordinary soil, and is one of the first grasses to appear on the partial recovery 

 of reh soils. It ascends from the plains to 8,000 feet in altitude, but varies in 

 habit and nutritive qualities according to soil and climate. Is readily propagated Propagation. 

 by cutting up the shoots and roots and spreading these over the surface of the 



4G3 



