VICIA 



FABA 



Broad Bean 



Wood. 



D.E.P., 

 i., 245-7. 



Khas-khas. 



Fibre. 



Bed- and White, 

 coloured Boots. 



OiL 



Vehicle of 

 Other Perfumes. 



Medicine. 



Fodder. 



D.E.P., 



vi., pt. iv., 

 234-5. 

 Broad 

 Bean. 



THE KHAS-KHAS GKASS 



adds that it is employed to control fermentation in arak manufacture. The- 

 WOOD ie not in much request, but is sometimes utilised for making canoes, masts 

 of Native vessels and coffins. [Cf Brannt, Pract. Treat, on Anim. and Veg. Fats 

 and Oils, 1888, 323-4 ; Pharmacog. Ind., 1890, i., 196-7 ; Cameron, For. Trees 

 of Mysore and Coorg, 1894, 24-5 ; Capital, May 28, 1903 ; Sabin, Tech. of Paint 

 and Varnish, 1905, 105-6, 140-1, 300.] 



VETIVERIA ZIZANIOIDES, Stapf, Kew Bull, 1906, 346-9, 

 362 ; Anatherum muricatum, Beauv. ; Andropogon muricalus, Retz ; A. 

 squarrosus, Linn., /. ; Fl. Br. Ind., vii., 186 ; Vetiveria odorata, Virey ; 

 Kheede, Hort. Mai, 1703, xii., 137, t. 72 ; Watt, Ind. Art at Delhi, 1903, 

 161, 198 ; GRAMINE^E. The khas-khas or Vetiver ; the khas, bend, panni r 

 bale-kd-ghdns, shanader jhar, sirom, tin, vdlo, vetti-ver, Idvanchd, etc., etc. 

 Is found throughout the plains and lower hills of India, Burma and 

 Ceylon, up to 4,000 feet, occurring on moist, heavy soils, more especially 

 the margins of lakes or streams. 



The root or khas-khas is extensively made into the aromatic scented mate 

 which are hung in doorways and kept wet to cool the atmosphere during the hot 

 season. It is also used for making fans, ornamental baskets, etc., which are 

 very largely produced at Savantvadi, Poona, Chanda and elsewhere. The raw 

 material is exported to Europe chiefly from Madras ports. Gildemeister and 

 Hoffmann ( Volatile Oils, 289) say, " The root is of a reddish colour and often 

 contaminated with red sand. A half-distilled root is frequently found in com- 

 merce, and can be recognised by its light colour." It seems more than probable 

 that much of the so-called half-distilled root is in reality the roots that have been 

 used in tatties for a season and are bought back by the traders to be exported. 

 The constant application of water and exposure to the fierce sun might easily 

 exhaust a large proportion of the oil and bleach the roots in the manner described. 

 According to certain inscriptions, taxes were levied on khas-khas in 1103 to 1174 

 A.D. (As. Soc. Beng., 1873, 161). The roots when distilled with water yield u, 

 fragrant OIL (known in European trade as Vetiuer, which is used as a perfume and 

 for flavouring sherbet. It commands a high price in Europe, being employed 

 in many favourite scents. It is the most viscid of essential oils, and hence its 

 sparing volatility is taken advantage of in fixing other perfumes. The oil is 

 hardly, if ever, exported from India, European supplies being either locally made 

 from the Indian roots or derived from Reunion. According to Piesse, the yield 

 is about 10 oz. per cwt. ; other observers have found it to vary from 0'2 to 3 '5 

 per cent. Bheede, who was perhaps the first European author to allude to this 

 plant, calls it ramacciam, and says that with the Brahmans it was bocalo. It 

 was in his time both wild and cultivated in Malabar on account of its roots, which 

 were used medicinally. 



In MEDICINE the root has been regarded by European physicians as a dia- 

 phoretic and as a preservative against cholera (Pereira, Mat. Med., ii., pt. i., 132). 

 In The Bower Manuscript (which appears to date from the 5th century) frequent 

 mention is made of usira or virana, which Hoernle renders as the present 

 odoriferous grass ; it was an ingredient of a plaster beneficial to the complexion. 

 A paste is rubbed on the skin to relieve excessive heat ; an aromatic cooling bath 

 is made by adding to a tub of water a powder of the root with that of Pnvmtin 

 otioi-Hta (red sandal-wood), and the woodof rrmuiH i'ini<itun. The grass (leaves, 

 etc.) is suitable for paper-making, and it is paid that 60,000 to 70,000 maundB 

 are annually available in the Hissar district of the Panjab alone. When young, 

 the grass affords good FODDER, and is also in universal demand for thatching 

 purposes. [Cf. Taleef Shereef (Playfair, transl.), 18.33, 14; Taylor, Topog. and 

 Stat. Dacca, 1840, 57 ; Hoey, Monog. Trade and Manuf. N. Ind., 1880, 160 ; 

 Journ. Ind. Art., 1884, i., No. 3, 7 ; Duthie, Fodd. Grass. N. Ind., 1888, 37 ; 

 Gee, Monog. Fibrous Manuf., 1891, 2 ; Pharmacog. Ind., iii., 571 ; Kanny Lall 

 Dey, Indig. Drugs Ind., 1896, 28-9 ; Dodge, Useful Fibre Plants of the World, 

 1897, 60; Mad. For. Admin. Rept., 1902, 34.] 



VICIA FABA, Linn. ; Fl Br. Ind., ii., 179 ; Duthie and Fuller, 

 Field and Garden Crops, iii., 4 ; Duthie, Fl Upper Gang. Plain, 1903, 

 259 ; Prain, Beng. Plants, 1903, i., 367 ; Firminger, Man. Gard. Ind.> 



1106 



