﻿416 ON THE SPIKENARD 



Seed solitary, crowned with a pappus. 



Root fibrous. 



Leaves hearted, fourfold ; radical leaves petioled. 



It appears, therefore, to be the Protean plant, Vale- 

 nan, a sister of the Mountain and Celtic Nard, and 

 of a species which I should describe in the Linn<ean- 

 style, Valeriana Jatamansi floribus triandris, foliis cor- 

 datis qua terms , radicalibus petiolatis. The radical 

 leaves, rising from the ground and enfolding the 

 young stern, are plucked up with a part of the root, 

 and, being dried in the sun, or by an artificial heat, 

 are sold as a drug, which from its appearance has been 

 called spikenard; though, as the Persian writer ob- 

 serves, it might be compared more properly to the 

 tail of an ermine. When nothing remains but the dry 

 fibres of the leaves, which retain their original form, 

 they have some resemblance to a lock of hair, from 

 which the Sanscrit name, it seems, is derived. Two 

 mercantile agents from But an on the part of the De- 

 varaja were examined, at my request, by Mr. Har- 

 rington, and informed him that the drug, which the 

 Bengalese called Jatamansi, " grew erect above the 

 " surface of the ground, resembling in colour an ear 

 " of green wheat; that, when recent, it had a faint 

 *' odour, which was greatly increased by the simple 

 " process of drying it; that it abounded on the hills, 

 " and even on the plains, of But an, where it was 

 " collected and prepared for medicinal purposes." 

 What its virtues are, experience alone can ascertain j 

 bur, as far as botanical analogy can justify a conjec- 

 ture, we may suppose them to be antispasmodic; and, 

 in our provinces, especially in Behar, the plant will 

 probably flourish ; so that we may always procure it 

 in a state fit for experiment. On the description of 

 the Indian Spikenard, compared with the drawing, I 

 must, observe, that, though all the leaves, as deli- 

 neated, may not appear of the same shape, yet all of 



