CYPERUS 



ROTUNDUS 



EDIBLE TUBERS 



Eaten. 



Kaseru. 



Parsi 

 Vegetable. 



Eleocharis. 



D.E.P., 

 ii., 685-6. 



ployed them in their special embalming preparation. They are also used in 

 perfumery, particularly in giving a required aroma to certain fabrics and in the 

 preparation of oud-bati the fragrant sticks burned in Hindu houses to disguise 

 offensive smells. They doubtless constitute much of the so-called juncus or 

 radix junci and kuperos of the Latin and Greek authors, and which was ex- 

 tolled by mediaeval herbalists, being sometimes, but erroneously, called Indian 

 jatamansi. [See Cymboposon Jwarancusa, p. 462.] It is desirable to bear in 

 mind the hard woody nature and aromatic property of these tubers in order to 

 distinguish them from certain edible tubers to which they bear some resemblance. 

 There would thus seem to be two chief forms of the medicinal and perfumery 

 tubers the motha (c. rotwndun-tuberosus) and the ndgar-moth (*'. fH-i-tfimts 

 of Dymock, non Roxburgh). 



Many writers, however, affirm that the tubers of C. rotttndn* and r. *6--oii 

 are eaten, especially in times of scarcity and famine. They are, certainly, greedily 

 eaten by pigs, and in famine times may therefore be eaten by men. But it would 

 almost seem as if either of two conditions were necessary : (a) that the tubers 

 of certain localities or particular stages of growth are more palatable than the 

 tubers described as medicinal, etc. ; or (6) that some altogether different plant 

 affords the edible tubers attributed to this sedge. 



Throughout India an edible tuber bears very frequently the vernacular name 

 Icaseru ; in fact it is mentioned in the Ain-i-Akbari. Roxburgh described .*<*>/"< 

 Kiiftoor as the kesur, common in Bengal and growing on the borders of lakes, 

 ponds, etc. It possesses, he says, tuberous roots, but curiously enough he makes 

 no mention of these tubers being edible. Most Indian writers who mention 

 c. rotiimiiiN as yielding edible roots, speak of the plant, to which they refer, 

 as frequenting the margins of tanks (Beng. Offic. Corresp., I.e.). It would thus 

 appear highly probable that the so-called edible tubers of c. rotttndus of many 

 writers may have to be transferred to Scirpits Kyoor, Roxb,, which Clarke made 

 a variety of .*. yrosfttis. Linn. Gammie's Note on Plants used for Food during Famine, 

 etc., in Bombay, while it gives c. imrb*-if*, makes no mention of c. roiumtun 

 nor of c. tubei'ofitiM as having been eaten, but enumerates the following species 

 of seirjtiid as affording edible products : (a) the bulbs of s. /ro*?i, the kysoor 

 or kachara, and (6) the seeds of s. niuHtiniu*, the chid (the miraj of Woodrow). 

 In passing it may be added that so far as can be discovered Gammie's allusion 

 to the " seeds " is the only record of the grain of a Scirpus being eaten. But 

 thinking that Woodrow (formerly Professor of Botany at the Poona College 

 of Science) was likely to be able to throw some light on this question, I asked 

 for his views. His reply was briefly as follows : "I found tubers in the markets, 

 carried these off to Poona, and produced from them s. Ky *<>. The tubers 

 are globular, the size of a marble, have a brown fibrous covering and inward 

 are white, farinaceous with an agreeable flavour." In a similar communi- 

 cation Gammie, the present Professor of Botany at Poona, informs me that the 

 tubers of s. g>j-owir are the favourite vegetable of the Parsis during the cold 

 weather. The plant grows abundantly in the fresh-water tanks of the Konkan 

 but not in the Deccan. Lastly, Mr. I. H. Burkill writes me that the Calcutta 

 supply of these edible tubers comes from Patna, Allahabad, Aligarh, etc. In 

 Nowgong the plant is called ghogal ; in Ganjam, santra ; and in Prome, myet- 

 ihon-tnyaung. Burkill then adds that another cyperaceous root is edible. This 

 is believed to be EicocJiarift. It is known in the Santal country as chichoor, and 

 in Central India (Tonk) it is kasuria. There can thus no longer be any doubt that 

 s. Kt/Honi- is at least one of the edible tubers of India. Hooper (Rept. Labor. 2nd. 

 Mus., 1906-7, 11) speaks of keshur tubers from Singapore, which it would appear 

 are regularly imported and sold in the Calcutta market. 



(B) Fibrous or Mat-making Forms : 



4. C. corymbosus, Rottb. , C. semi-nudus, Roxb., Fl. Ind., i., 187 ; Fl. Br. Ind., 

 vi., 612. A glabrous rush-like sedge which often grows to the height of two to 

 three feet. It is met with from Kumaon to Assam and Burma, and is distributed 

 to Ceylon, Africa and America. It is known in India as gol-methi, mutha, goddu 

 tunga, kodu, kurai, berhua, nwa-myet-yin. Var. fi. fangorei, C.B.C., is founded 

 on a specimen furnished by Dr. Bidie from Tinnevelly, which had been originally 

 obtained from Madagascar. This removes, therefore, any doubt regarding the 

 material of the finer mats of that locality. 



5, C. malaccensis, Lam. / C. gangeticus (MS.), incurvatus, Pangorei and procerus, 

 Roxburgh's Fl. Ind., i., 203 ; Prain, Beng. Plants, ii., 1144 ; FL Br. Ind., vi., 608. 

 A native of brackish mudbanks from Bengal to Sind and distributed to Singa- 



466 



