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Bundelkhand: Ganrar, onei, orai, durbachi ( Jhansi) ; N.-W. Prov. 

 and Oudh : Sink-jhdru (Dehra Dun), ganrar (Muttra), gdnrdr (Allaha- 

 badj, garar and gandel (Mainpuri), gandar (Bhira), gander (Kheri); 

 Cent. Prow : TJrai (Balaghat), ursori (Chanda) ; Marathi : Varelu 

 and ushir (Dymock) ; Bengal: Bena (Roxb.), Siron (Santali); Tamil: 

 Woetiwear (Roxb.) ; S. India : Vettiver. 



Perennial. Roots composed of long spongy brownish coloured fibres. 

 Stems many, smooth, simple, erect, 4-6 feet high. Leaves near the base, 

 bifarious, narrow, erect, smooth, 2-3 feet long. Panicle conical, 6 inches 

 to 1 foot, composed of many simple linear spike-like racemes arranged 

 in verticels. Flowers in pairs, without awns. Glumes of hermaphro- 

 dite florets nearly equal, muricated on the back. 



Generally distributed throughout the plains of Northern India, espe- 

 cially on moist low-lying land. It affords good fodder when young, and 

 is much relished by buffaloes. It is not stacked as fodder, and the cut 

 grass is given to cattle only in seasons of excessive drought. This 

 grass is used largely as a thatching material ; and the fragrant roots, 

 known under the name of khas-khas, are used all over Northern India in 

 the manufacture of tatties. In the Sirsa Settlement Report it is stated 

 that the roots are dug. up by the villagers, who sometimes pay the owner 

 of the ground a small fee of 4 annas per digger, and'that they are sold at 

 about a rupee a maund to banyas, who send them to Lahore and Feroze- 

 pur. In the Jhang Settlement Report mention is made of the tough 

 roots being used for making rope, and also the brushes used by the 

 weavers for arranging the threads of the web. The brushes of the 

 Saharanpur and Dehra Dun weavers are of the same material. Bas- 

 kets are made of the stems (sink), which are sometimes dyed. At 

 Bhira, in Oudh, a perfume called itar is extracted, and used medicinally 

 under the name of uraiya. For further information regarding the medi- 

 cinal properties of this grass, see Dr. Dymock's "Vegetable Materia 

 Medica of Western India, " p. 851. 



A. pachyarthrus, Hack. {Plate LIX.) Syn. — A. demissus, Steud. 

 Vern. — Bundelkhand: Gangerua; Cent. Prov. : Mdlakaya (Nagpur), 

 mdlka-phalka (Chanda). 



Stems erect, smooth, 6 inches to 1 J feet high. Leaves rather small, 

 the upper ones reduced to sheaths. Panicles embraced by the leaf 

 sheaths, of many terminal and axillary spikes on a slender jointed ped- 

 uncle. Outer glume of hermaphrodite floret cuspidate ; flowering glume 

 reduced to a long slender bent awn. 



Common on open usar soil in Rajputana and Bundelkhand, and on 



