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the wild ancestor of which we have to seek among the awned 
forms. It has very generally been assumed that the Citronella 
grass is a descendant of the wild ‘Mana’ grass of the Ceylon 
Patanas, but it is unfortunate that there is no specimen 
at Kew which is definitely stated to have been collected 
in the wild state. Sir Joseph Hooker, however, who had the 
grasses of the Peradeniya herbarium at his disposal when working 
out the Gramineae for Trimen’s ‘Handbook of the Flora of 
Ceylon,’ says* that there were three specimens of the wild Mana 
in that collection from Galle, Maoya, and Peradeniya, and they were 
all Hackel’s Andropogon Nardus, var. nilagiricus. Willis also 
states that the Mana of the Patanas is distinct from the cultivated 
Citronella grass, but does not say how it differs. Now there is at Kew 
a suite of excellent specimens of the cultivated awnless C. Nardus 
from Mr. Jowitt’s estate at Bundarawalla, and, sent with them at 
the same time and from the same locality, and numbered 
concurrently with the first, is another set which is undoubtedly 
‘Andropogon Nardus, var. nilagiricus. Whether they grew 
wild on the estate or were in cultivation is not stated. A careful 
comparison of both sets has convinced me that this ‘ Andropogon 
Nardus, var. nilagiricus’ is, as Sir Joseph Hooker has stated, 
actually the mother plant of the Pengiri Mana or Citronella grass. 
I shall treat of the wild ‘Mana’ in the next section. Here 
I would only add a few words concerning the Maha Pengiri 
and Lenabatu Pengiri. Gildemeister and Hoffmannjf state, on 
Mr. Winter’s authority, that the Maha Pengiri came from Malacca. 
As the Citronella grass is a comparatively recent introduction to 
the Malay Peninsula, and certainly does not occur there in the 
wild state, this can only mean that it has, possibly as an 
improved race, been reintroduced into Ceylon from Malacca; but 
as the Maha Pengiri is at the same time put down as the old or 
original Citronella grass of Ceylon, it is more probable that the 
statement is due to some mistake. As to the Lenabatu variety we 
have more precise information. It originated about 1885 near 
Matura,t in South Ceylon, presumably in a plantation, and ina — 
short time almost entirely replaced the old grass on account of its 
being so much hardier. Mells$ says of it, “it is in general 
appearance very like the Mana grass found on patanas up country.” 
Not having seen normal inflorescences of Lenabatu, I am unable 
to say whether it actually comes nearer to the wild Mana than to 
the Maha Pengiri. 3 
4, Cymbopogon confertiflorus, Stapf. 
(Andropogon confertiflorus, Steud.) 
Mana (Sing.). 
In the preceding section I mentioned ‘ Andropogon Waydaed 
var. nilagiricus, Hack.’ as presumably the mother-plant of the 
Citronella grass. It inhabits an area extending from the Nilgiris 
to Ceylon. Such specimens of it as have been collected or observed — 
* Part v., p. 243. 
T Gildemeister and Hoffmann, Vol. Oils (1900), p. 291, 
+ Tropic. Agricult., vol. xvii. (1898), p . 794, 
; § Mells in Tropic. Agricult., vol, xvi. 11897), Dp. 269. 
