996 Report on subjects connected with Afghanistan. [No. 120. 



the knowledge of Afghans of the value of etiolating or blanching cer- 

 tain plants. I have never seen it, not having been in Cabul in the 

 spring. The wild plant, which, I believe is the original of the cul- 

 tivated one, is plentiful on the Kojuck range, and also on the Hu- 

 zarah mountains up to an elevation of 11,500 feet. The leaves of this 

 are used with others as winter fodder, the cultivated Rhubarb might 

 easily be introduced to Simlah, Mussoorie, and Darjeeling. 



Artemisice. — Several of the wild plants of Afghanistan are extensive- 

 ly used as fuel. Those in most common use about Cabul, are species of 

 Artemisia or wormwood, by some of our officers known as wild thyme; 

 they are aromatic, camphorated, low shrubs, and some are eaten 

 by camels. In the loftier districts great part of the vegetable fuel 

 is furnished by the plants known generally by the name of Koollah-i- 

 Huzarah, Huzarah's Cap. They form one of the most prominent 

 features of the Flora, occurring in dense, highly thorny, hemispherical 

 tufts, as unpleasant to touch as the back of a hedgehog. Many species 

 occur. To Botanists they are known by the name of Statice. 



Ka-rLShootur — Alhagi Mauroi'um. — Plants eaten by camels become, 

 in such a barren country as Afghanistan, invested with a good deal of 

 importance. Generally such are not deficient, but one of the difficulties 

 of the Bolan Pass is occasioned by their absence, and to a similar cause 

 I attribute the great loss of camels on the return to India between 

 Bookhak and Bala Bagh. Of these the most esteemed is the Ka-ri- 

 Shootur, or Jaursa of the N. W., one of the most widely distributed 

 plants, occurring all over the N. W. of India, and all over Afghanistan, 

 up to an elevation of 9,500 feet. This plant is also known as affording 

 the Turunjubeen, a sort of manna-like substance ; the production of 

 this appears to be local, and the only place I was told it was procured 

 in Afghanistan was the Candahar district. 



Perhaps the best other kinds of camel fodder are furnished by the 

 Chenopodese, or Goose-foot tribe. These abound throughout the coun- 

 try, and are succulent and saline. 



Tragacanth — There is every probability of the true Tragacanth 

 plants being found in the country, the section being one of the most 

 common forms of Leguminosae. 



Daphne. — A species of Daphne not unlike D. Cannabina ; the pa- 

 per plant of Nepal and Bootan, is not uncommon at elevations of 5,000 



