AROMATIC TUBEft 



CVPERUS 



ROTUNDUS 



C. esculentus, Linn. ; Fl. Br. Ind., vi., 616 ; Journ. Agri.- D.E.P., 

 //,-r/. Soc. Ind., 1897, xi., 575-8. This is the Rush-nut, Earth-almond, ii- 684. 

 nut or chufas of European, American and African writers. Bret- Earth- 

 sriiiH-iilrr (Hi*t. l-'.urop. Dot. Disc. China, 16), while reviewing Kamel's dis- almond - 



. s ( 1 683), identifies the maa tchi or pee tchi or Chinese Water-chestnut 

 with th<> present plant. The name Water-chestnut usually denotes 



m (see p. 1080). 



" I If the determination here suggested should prove correct, the Chinese would CbineM 

 ivo to be accepted as having known the edible sedge from as early a date as Tuber. 

 can be shown for any other country. But it so closely resembles t: i ,/..,../.... 

 t hut it is highly probable the reputed discoveries of it in India and elsewhere are 

 1:1 si > me instances at least due to mistaken determinations. It has, however, 

 been recorded as found in one or two localities in the Panjab and in the Nilgiri 

 hills, but nowhere common. It thus no doubt exists in India, but until fresh in- 

 vestigations have been made it is perhaps desirable to leave the matter in this 

 sition. Repeated efforts have, however, been put forth (so it has been affirmed) 

 introduce the cultivation of this plant, but with absolute failure everywhere. 

 The present species, therefore, contributes no known portion of the supply of 

 edible flux-run tubers in India. Of other countries it is reported the tubers 

 are often roasted, then ground to a powder, and used in the preparation of chu/as 

 jffee or chufas chocolate. [Cf. Kew Mus. Guide, 1895, No. 2, 59.] 



3. C. rotundus, Linn. ; Fl. Br. Ind., vi., 614 ; Hove, Tours in Gujarat, 

 ., 1787, 25, 45, 112, 120 ; Dymock, Mat. Med. W. Ind., 1885, 844-5 ; 

 Auckland and King, Ofpc. Corresp. Beng. Govt., Apr. 21, 1892 ; Pharmacog. 

 Ind., iii., 552-3 ; Dewey, U.S. Dept. Agri., 1894, 1-4 ; Bretschneider, 

 . Sin., 1895, pt. iii., 126 ; Woodrow, Gard. in Ind., 1899, 547 ; also 

 W. Ind., l.c. 431 ; Bull. Haarlem Mus. PL, 1903, ii., 1145 ; Gage, Bee. 

 lot. Surv. Ind., iii., 112 ; also Prain, l.c. 303 ; Hosie, Ee.pt. Ssu'ch'uan, 

 ?hina, 1904, 45. This is the mothd, muthd, batha-bijir, tandi sura, mustd, 

 i, gundra, korai, koreki-jhar, bimbal, etc. Bretschneider points out that 

 ic Chinese name for the odoriferous tubers of this species (which occurs in 

 Juddhist books), namely mu ts*ui ta, comes from the Sanskrit mustuka. 

 This is a very troublesome weed of fields, gardens and waste lands, plentiful 

 oughout India from the sea-level up to 6,000 feet in altitude. Its occurrence as 

 . enemy of cultivation has been recorded in nearly every tropical country. The 

 iderground shoots that bear the economic rhizomes or tubers are persistent and 

 icome woody, the plant being in consequence difficult to eradicate. The best 

 suits at extermination have been attained by low shade and repeated mowing 

 )wn of the herbage. But c. tnbei-ami*. Rottb., is a plant so closely allied 

 i it that the late Mr. C. B. Clarke informed me it might quite safely be viewed 

 )tanically as a variety of c. rotnnciuH. Economically the two plants are 

 ientical, and are therefore treated here conjointly. One of them is possibly 

 . **/<* >i M IN (or ndgar-moth) of economic writers (Dutt, Dey, Dymock, Liotard, 

 ~3uck, etc.), which yields an odoriferous medicinal root but is not *'. j>er< <-ni>i*. 

 'oxb., which by modern botanists is called <'. *-o'io*n*. Dymock speaks of 

 two kinds of ndgar-moth met with in the Bombay markets, viz. Surat and 

 Kathiawar. Gammie informs me of two kinds a small tuber common in 

 the Deccan, and a large one that does not extend beyond the heavy -rainfall 

 zone of the Konkan and the Ghats. Clarke, who most kindly perused this 

 article and made useful suggestions, asked the question Could the medicinal 

 root alluded to by Dymock and others be .tiarincnn bnibontin, C.B.C. ? 

 <. s><-iNHM has not at all events been recorded as found in Western India. 

 Woodrow writes me that it does not occur in Western India as far as he knows. 

 It is thus hardly likely to be the economic plant r. in-rtrnuiH, Dgmock. 



The rhizomes of *'. ratmnttt* r. /ITI are very much larger than 

 those of c. buiiHtNUM. are highly aromatic, and when mature ar so woody that 

 they could hardly be eaten. Ground into a powder, however, they are used medi- 

 cinally, especially for external applications as lep. They have been regarded as 

 diaphoretic, stimulant and astringent. The Scythians are said to have em- 



D.E.P., 

 ii., 686-7. 

 Motha. 



Troublesome 

 Wood. 



Ndgar-moth. 

 Two Kinds. 



Tubas. 



Medicine. 



465 



30 



