THE WEEDS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 31 



Some Weeds of New South Wales* 



Nut-grass (Cyperus rotundus L.). 

 (CYPERACE.E; Sedge Family.} 



Other vernacular names. This is not a grass, neither does it bear a nut. 

 It is a sedge, and what is popularly called the " nut " is the tuber. In the 

 United States it is often known as " Coco." 



Aboriginal names. Mr. Max Koch, of South Australia, has given me 

 the following names used by various tribes in his State, viz. : " Kudna- 

 marra" for the plant, and " Wurta," "Yower," and "Tharaka" for the 

 tubers. 



Botanical name. Cyperus, Greek Jcuperos, which was the name given 

 to the plant we now know as Nut-grass, and which has given the name 

 to the genus to which it belongs; rotundus, Latin round, in allusion to 

 the frequently spherical shape of the tubers. 



Asa Gray refers to the Nut-grass of the Southern Atlantic States as 

 C. rotundus, variety Hydra. In New South Wales writings sixty years 

 ago it is referred to as C. Hydra, presumably a reference to the many 

 heads or lives it has. 



Botanical description. A perennial, with a creeping rhizome swelling 

 here and there into tubers. 



Stems rather slender, triquetrous towards the top, usually 1 to 1 feet high. 

 Leaves much shorter than the stem, the sheaths often long and loose. 



Spikelets usually six to ten together in clusters or short spikes in an umbel 

 of few rays, or sometimes almost contracted into a compact cluster; 

 the spikelets usually brown, linear, acute, compressed, usually 5 to G 

 lines long, and rather above 1 line broad, with about 12 to 20 flowers, 

 but often much longer ; the rhachis bordered by hyaline wings. 



Glumes imbricate, more or less distinctly several-nerved, with a prominent 

 keel usually green. 



Stamens three. Style three-cleft. Nut ovoid, three-angled, less than half 

 the length of the glume. 



Uses. The Australian aborigines roasted and ate the tubers in many 

 parts of the continent, and continue to do so at the present day in South 

 Australia. 



Oil. The rounded rhizomes (nuts) are said to yield an essential oil, 

 which the natives of Upper India use to perfume their clothes. In Bengal 

 the tubers of this species are more largely used in perfumery than are 

 those of C. scariosus, being more plentiful. Roxburgh says that the 

 dried and pounded root is used "as perfume at the weddings of natives." 

 The odour of the tubers, is not altogether pleasant. The smell is of 

 Khus Khus, with perhaps a dash of Patchouli thrown in. 



