ON CYPERUS BULBOSUS VAHL. B59 
bulbs were eaten by the natives; and his specimen in the British 
Museum Herbarium leaves no doubt as to = a hie the 
* Silandi arisi.”’ That Tamil name is not how ned 
him ; but it is given, as ‘“‘ Sheelandéi Arin0g; “i ‘Ainslie’ 8 seacustie 
‘Materia Medica of Hindostan’ \18138).* The name of pe species 
he foll 
is there recorded as ‘‘ Cyperus geminatus, sp. nov.,” aa t owing 
information is given about it:—‘ This was first slate to the 
notice of Kuropeans by the late Dr. James Ander rson, who, in an 
=f im 
sandy situations by the sea-side and requiring i little water, | was 
the common food of the natives during famine and when other 
gfaims are scarce. It is nutritious, sleet te the taste, and 
plant wherever ~ thought, from their particular qualities, they 
would be benefici 
The Rgtanioal gan in this book are, as is well known, 
due to Dr. Rottler; and the name C. geminatus appears on aye 
ew) thus :—‘‘ C. geminatus, Schreber in litteris, + witha ort MS. 
description, ARE es the specific aan to be derived from the 
elets ‘‘sepius geminatis.” other specimen is labelled 
radices sa grana tuberosa odalia Silendi arisi dicta.”’ Though 
Schreber’s name was never published with a description, it occurs 
in Moon’s < aE ak “of Ceylon Plants,’} and the specimen 
ae om) of Wallich, No. 3317 B is labelled “CO, geminatus, 
re this, Vahl, in 1806,§ published his C. bulbosus, with a 
very full deseri iption, which undoubtedly refers to our pla nt. He 
Considers OC. jeminicus Rottb., an entirely different species’ || and has 
me critical Sheeryaons on it, apparen ade from actual 
examination of the typical peaunens of Forskil. He adds that 
ieee Thonning and Kon 
in 1839 another and very sae name was bestowed on 
the = ener ‘i bulbiferus ‘“ Retz.” Dietrich does not say whence 
he o ained t his name of Retzius. It is probable that, subse- 
coe OOO, 
+, cates Schrader, is a very different Brazilian species. 
, 2.6. 
§ Enum. — ii., p. 342. 
I| 2 ¢., p, 325, 
7 Scie, Syn, Plant, i., p. 222, 
