Batui—Tdentification of the Animals and Plants of India. 3465 
20. Kostus (Kéo7os). 
Aucklandia costus, Falconer. Sansk., Kushta. 
According to the author of the Periplus, kostos was exported from 
Barbarikon, at the mouth of the Indus, and from Barugaza, it 
having come from Kabul, through Proklais,™* &c. 
Much doubt existed as to the identity of this drug, till it was ascer- 
tained by Dr. Falconer to be the root of the above-named plant, which 
belongs to the order Asteracee. It inhabits the moist open slopes 
surrounding the valley of Kashmir, at an elevation of 8000 or 9000 
feet above sea level. 
The roots have a strong aromatic pungent odour, and are largely 
employed on account of their supposed aphrodisiac properties. 
Considerable quantities, under the name putchyk, are still exported 
from Calcutta to China—or were some yearsago; but it is possible the 
route from Lahore, whence they were brought to that port, has now been 
changed in favour of Bombay or Karachi. In China it is used in the 
manufacture of incense. Two varieties are distinguished by their 
colours and qualities. 
21. Marine Tress. 
Brugwera gymnorhiza, Lam.—Mangroves. Kakra, Beng. 
According to a passage in Antigonus, we learn that Megasthenes, in 
his Zndika, mentioned that trees grow in the Indian seas. 
These were doubtless mangroves, which flourish in Sind, in the 
estuaries of the Indus, as well as on various parts of the coast of the © 
peninsula, and the islands of the Bay of Bengal, spreading thence to 
the Northern parts of Australia. As is well known, mangroves grow 
below high-water mark, and, with their stems supported above ground 
by numerous roots, they present a singular appearance—one sure to 
attract the attention of European travellers in India. 
Pliny’s accounts of marine trees may possibly include the man- 
grove, but they are somewhat vague; they seem to refer rather to the 
appearances presented by different corals and alge. 
u4 Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, by J. W. M‘Crindle, p. 20. 
