Edible Products. 



392 



[Nov. 190G. 



Tamil. 



Ellu or Chiru 

 Chamai 

 Pani Cliamai 



Tinai or 



Tinai Chamai or 

 Waraku 



Kani-pun-pillu 

 (Pull Paddy or 

 Pull Rice) ... 



Muttu Cholam ... 

 Arise Oholum ... 



Kaka or Karum... 



Oholum 



Irungu 



Shada 

 Nacheri 



Codai or Karutha 

 Cappe 



Mari or Vellai ... 

 Cappe 



Sinhalese. 



Heeu Meneri 

 Meneri 



Kawalu 



Tana-Thani 



Tanakal 



Amu 



Polu 



Bada Irungu 

 Karal Iruugu 



Kalu Iruugu 



Kurakkau 

 Kalu Kurakkan 

 Ella Kurakkau 



Varieties. 



Red 

 Black, not seen 



Karal amu 



Badu amu 

 Math amu 



Botanical. 



Panicum miliare 

 Panicum milia- 



ceum. 

 Setaria glauca 



Setaria italica 



Paspalum scrobi- 



culatum. 

 not seen 

 not seen 



Pennisetum ty- 

 phoideum. 

 . Zea Mays. 

 . Andropogon Sor- 

 ghum. 

 . do 

 do 



. Andropogon Sor- 

 ghum, 

 do 



..Eleusine coracana 



not seen 

 not seen 



I have also received notice of the following but have not seen them 



Kansa Meneri S. 



do 

 do 



Val Meneri 



S. 



Mut-tan-ga pillu T. found growing with other grains in Uva and on Kandy 

 side, not cultivated. 



Koli-chudampillu T. not cultivated, grows in paddy fields and is weeded out. 

 Never used as a grain. 



I shall be very grateful to any one who will kindly send me fresh specimens 

 of those grasses marked " not seen," with their Tamil and Sinhalese names and the 

 locality where collected, written on a slip of paper attached to the specimen. 



Panicum. Crus-galli, var. frumentaceum. appears to be cultivated by Tamils 

 under three distinct forms, viz., Mondy, Chamai and Kuthrai-val-Chamai, and by the 

 Sinhalese under the name of Gojara-wala. 



Mondy, T.— This variety much resembles the wild species, Panicum Crus-galli, 

 Marakku, S., but differs from it in its thickened crowded spikes and awnless 

 glumes. The habit is erect, the stems are stout, leafy and much branched, leaves 

 18" long by §" wide in the middle. 



All the varieties are characterised by a peculiar horse-shoe marking at the 

 juncture of the blade of the leaf and its sheath. The panicle in plants grown by me 

 is 1 inches long, composed of spikes, alternate below, on all sides of the stalk above, 

 with tufts of bristles at their bases- The spikelets are crowded on the spikes in 

 groups of 2— 3. This is Panicum frumentaceum, Roxburgh, who says: "There are 

 several varieties of it known to the Hindoo farmers. The seed is wholesome and 

 nourishing, it is an article of diet, particularly amongst the lower classes of the 

 natives. It yields about fifty-fold in a good soil. Cattle are fond of it," In the 

 Queensland Agricultural Journal for April, 1906, Mr. F, Manson Bailey, F.L.S. 



