13. First Notes on Cymbopogon Martini, Stapf. 
By I. H. BurKi11. 
In October of last year, I made a tour in Nimar and Berar 
Asirgarh and to Chandni, visiting the only still in the country side ; 
and I travelled in Berar by road from Amraoti through Ellich- 
pur—an important trade centre for the oil—into the Melghat 
as far in different directions as Chikalda, Lewada in the Sipna 
valley, and Makla north of it, visiting all the stills—five—that 
were to be found. 
very one of the stills visited was distilling from the 
grass called Motia, and no single one from the grass called 
Sofia: but in Ellichpur I was able to procure a sample of 
Sofia Ger distilled in 1907 in a part of the Melghat that I have 
not vi 
This paper is entitled ‘‘ First notes ’’ because in the current 
year I hope again to traverse the Melghat and to visit other 
districts in order to prosecute my wor 
Motia and Sofia are remarkable varieties of Cymbopogon 
Martini. The word motia means like a pearl, 7.e., precious : and 
as the Rao Saheb P. B. Despande first kindly ‘told me, sofia 
means inferior.!. The names express the relative values of the 
two oils. Motia oil has been investigated chemically by several 
workers, and is well described in Gildermeister and Hoffmann’s 
Volatile oils (translated by Kremers, Madison, 1900, p. 281). 
It consists of an alcohol called Geraniol, together with about 7 % 
of other bodies which need not be ment tioned by name in this 
place. Sofia oil has been eM ee since that book was 
written, by Walbaum and Hiithig at the instance of Messrs. 
Schimmel and Co., of Miltitz near apaig. and a as published 
in the Journal fiir praktische Chemie, new series, vol. 71, 1905, 
pp. 459-473. The two chemists find, as indeed 1 we in the Indian 
otia 
“presence of this Carvon. Motia and Sofia grasses crate differ. 
1 Sofia would be the Nimari pronunciation of Sonfia, 7.e. , fennel-like , 
but this is not the origin of the word. 
