388 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 1892. 



Bomb. Fl, 298 ; Foa cynosuroides, Retz. Obs., IV, 20 j Roxb., Fl. 

 Ind., I, 334. 



Ver. Darbha, Bab, Dhab, or Dib, Kussa, Koosha, Drab, Dabvi, 

 Durper. 



Perennial, with a tbick creeping root. Culm thick, reed-like, terete, 

 covered at the base, with withered sheaths of leaves 1-3 inches high. 

 Sheaths glabrous. Ligula ciliate. Leaves rigid, flat, the young 

 root leaves convoluted, 4-8 inches to 1 foot long, acute, hispid, 

 especially at the margins. Panicle spike-like or conical, elongated, 

 ^-2 feet long, branches numerous, dense, racemose, horizontal, 

 short, rigid. Spikelets sessile, secund in two rows, from the 

 underside o£ each branch, distichous, 6-12-flowered. Flowering 

 glume ovate, lanceolate, obsoletely nerved. 



In Guzerat, West Khandeish, Nassick, also in the plains of 

 Northern India in all kinds of soils, especially in places where water 

 collects, its long vigorous rhizome-like roots serve to keep it fresh 

 even in dry weather. It is said to be eaten by buffaloes ; as a rule, 

 cattle do not eat it. When in flower it is considered to be an indiffer- 

 ent kind of fodder. When other kinds of fodder are wanting, it is 

 often given mixed with gram and wheat. It is stated that its strong 

 fibres are used in Northern India for the ropes of the Persian wheel, 

 where they will last for three months or more. The fibres are also 

 used in some parts of Guzerat to make a sort of coarse paper. This 

 grass is employed by the Brahmins in their religious ceremonies. 

 Kussa, the Sanskrit name of this much-venerated grass, was given 

 to it at a very early period by the Hindu Philosophers, and believed 

 by Sir William Jones to have been consecrated to the memory of 

 Cush, one of the sons of Ram (Roxb. ), It is enjoined in the Shravan 

 Puran that the Dharb should be collected or rather pulled out of the 

 ground on Pithori Anvashya. Only plants thus collected are fit for 

 use in religious ceremonies. They are also employed in various 

 funeral ceremonies, such as tar pan. It is often spread beneath the 

 dead bodies, the chief mourner wearing a ring of it on his finger. 



An infusion of the root is used as a diuretic all over India. 



Oentotheca, Desv. 



C. lappacea, Desv., Kunth. Enum., I., 366; Beauv., Agrost., 

 t. XIV., fig. 7. 



