315 
his posthumous ‘Museum Zeylanicum’ (p. 26), published by 
Sherard in 1726, is referred to as: “Pengriman Arundo Zeylanica 
Jarcta odore et sapore calami aromatici.” Pengriman evidently 
stands for “ Pengiri mana” (1.e., sour mana), the name by which 
the grass is still known in Ceylon. Nicolaus Grimm,* a con- 
temporary of Hermann, also a medical man, and also for a 
considerable time resident at Colombo, calls it “ Avundo indica 
odorata,” and says of it: “Its lower part is like that of cane and 
the upper like a grass. The root is rather hard, splits like wood, 
and is very fragrant; it resembles somewhat Calamus, and is 
divided into joints of equal length and nodes. It grows rather 
copiously near the town of Colombo. . . By distillation a fine 
oil is prepared from it, which in small doses contains all the 
virtues of the plant, comforting the stomach and aiding the 
digestion when it is disturbed by cold, slimy or fcetid humours. 
It is the best remedy in cases of obstructed menses, and 
accelerates them. A watery infusion has the same power. The 
plant is very good for cold and hot baths in beri-beri and in the 
diseases mentioned above.” Hermann’s specimen agrees absolutely 
with the ordinary Citronella grass as it is at present cultivated in 
South Ceylon, and there is no doubt in my mind that the grass 
was already in cultivation in his time, so that Grimm’s note as 
to the grass growing copiously near Colombo would refer to 
plantations of the grass. 
Linnaeus, like other writers before him, was inclined to find 
the “ Nardus Indica” of the ancients in some reed-like grass, and 
thinking that Hermann’s Pengriman might be it, called it 
Andropogon Nardus. In connection with this, it may be of 
interest to point out that Camus and Penzig foundf, in the so-called 
Este Herbarium at Modena, which was formed between 1565 and 
1598, a portion of a shoot of C. Nardus under the name of 
“Spigo Nardo.” Others saw in it the old Calamus aromaticus, 
and it may actually have been offered, under that or a similar name, 
in European drug-shops. Thus, for instance, there is attached to 
Hermann’s specimen in the British Museum the note—in whose 
hand I do not know—“ Calamus odvratus officinarum.” 
. CONFUSION WITH LEMON GRASS.—The Citronella grass early 
shared the fate of the other aromatic Andropogoneae by becoming 
almost hopelessly confused. It was Ainsliet who first (1813) 
suggested that it was identical with the ‘Ginger grass’ of 
Courtallam (C. flecuosus) and the cultivated ‘Lemon grass’ 
(C. citratus), and it seems to have been known fora long time 
by the latter name; but as ‘Lemon grass’ was very generally 
put down as ‘ Andropogon Schoenanthus, Citronella was also 
frequently referred to by that name, chiefly by pharmacists and 
chemists. Then, the French name for ‘Lemon grass’ being 
‘citronelle,’ the latter term also found its way into English 
literature, originally as a synonym of ‘ Lemon grass’ in the wider 
sense, and later on more especially of the ‘ Ceylon lemon grass,’ 
* Grimm, Labor, Ceyl., p. 120, ex Burmann, Thes. Zeyl. (1736), p. 35. 
+ Camus and Penzig in Atte Soc. Natur.. Modena, Mem. ser. iii,, vol. iv. (1885), 
p. 33 (of reprint). 
{ Ainslie, Mat, Med. (1813), pp. 115 and 128, 
26296 B2 
