345 
in April in a thoroughly dry condition yielded 0:711 per cent. of 
. oil, the differences in the yield being attributed to the first lot 
being fresh, whilst the other was dry. No analysis of the oil has 
yet been made. 
10. Cymbopogon polyneuros, Stapf. 
(Andropogon polyneuros, Steud.) 
Just as OC. Martini is replaced in the south-east of the Deccan 
Peninsula by C. caesius, so another species takes its place in the 
south-west. This species, C. polyneuros, is, however, much better 
defined than C. caesius. It is a moderately robust grass with a 
tendency to copious branching from the collar so as to form dense 
tufts of culms, with somewhat persistent, narrow, basal sheaths, 
rather fat, smooth blades with a rounded base, more or less glaucous 
beneath and often suffused with purple along the margin, and 
with short, contracted, variegated panicles, the herbaceous sheaths 
being usually deep brown-green with a narrow scarious margin, 
the spikelets being green in the lower part, and more or less 
blackish-purple in the upper. It was first distributed by Wight 
(No. 1705) under the name Andropogon versicolor, N.K., a name 
chosen no doubt in allusion to the variegation of the inflorescence. 
Nees never published a description of it. On the other hand, 
Steudel has, in his ‘Synopsis Plantarum Graminearum’ (1855), 
(p. 388), an ‘ Andropogon versicolor, Nees MSS.,’ under which 
he quotes ‘A. Schoenanthus, Wall. Cat. n. 87941.’ Wallich’s 
‘Cat. n. 8794L.’ is in Wallich’s own herbarium identical with 
n. 8794K., which Steudel (l.c.) cites under Andropogon clan- 
destinus, Nees. Steudel’s description of Andropogon versicolor 
agrees neither with Wight’s No. 1705 issued as ‘ Andropogon 
versicolor, N.E.,’ nor with Wallich’s n. 8794L. It is not clear 
what the plant, which Steudel had in mind, was; it cannot 
well have been Wight’s ‘ Andropogon versicolor, N.E.’ Wight 
does not indicate the locality where his No. 1705 was collected 
beyond the general note “ Peninsula Ind. Orientalis.” It agrees 
absolutely, however, with a grass which has frequently been 
collected in the Nilgiris, among others by Hohenacker who dis- 
tributed it as “933, Andropogon (Cymbopogon) nardoides 3. minor 
N.ab E.”; this was made by Steudel* the type of his Andro. 
pogon polyneuros. That name being perfectly unambiguous, its 
specific component will have to be retained for the Nilgiri grass 
in question in preference to versicolor, although the latter has very 
generally been applied to it. Outside the Nilgiris, C. polyneuros 
has so far only been observed in Ceylon where it is, particularly 
at higher elevations (up to 1,500 m.), a locally common plant. 
Thwaitest has already called attention to the “rather agreeable 
aromatic odour” of the inflorescences of this species, adding 
‘that the essential oil appears to be situated principally at the base 
of the spikelets.” According to a note in the ‘Tropical Agricul- 
turist’ for 1901 (p. 873), the odour of the crushed leaves resembles 
that of fennel or anise. There it is also stated that the grass 
* Steudel, Syn. Pl. Glum. pars. i. (1855), p. 385. 
+ Thwaites, Enum. Pl, Zeyl. (1864), p. 367. 
— 26295 D 
