PATCHOULT, 



573 



arise — for the roots of this extraordinary grass have not even been 

 injured, far less destroyed, by the fire; and in a very short time 

 the whole brow of the mountain is again overspread with tufts of 

 beautiful green waving grass. — (-'Journal of Agriculture.") 



Otto of khuskhus or scented grass, from another species, A. 

 digitalis, obtained at Ulwar in the States of Eajpootanah, was 

 shown at the Grreat Exhibition in 1851, and N'ewar oil (from 4. 

 maritima) from Agra. 



CiTEONELL V Oil. — In the Southern province of Ceylon some 

 half dozen estrr:es about Galle are cultivated with citronella grass. 

 The exports or' this oil from Cevlon in the last three years have 

 been as follov- ^ :— 1850, 86,01.8' oz., valued at £3,311 ; 1851, 

 114,959 oz., valued at £3,742 ; in 1852, 131,780 oz., valued at 

 £2,806. 



PATCHorLT. — Under this name are imported into this country 

 the dried foliaceous tops of a strongly odoriferous labiate plant, 

 growing three feet high in India and China, called in Bengalee 

 and Hindu, pucJia pat. About 46 cases, of from 50 to 110 lbs. 

 each, were imported from Chma, by the way of ]New York, in 

 1844. The price asked was 6s. per pound. Yery little is known 

 of the plant yielding it. Mr. Greorge Porter, late of the island 

 of Pinang, stated that it grows wild there and on the opposite 

 shores of the Malay peninsula. Dr. WalJich says, that it ob- 

 viously belongs to the family Labiatae. Yiney, in the " Prench 

 Journal of Pharmacy," suggests that it is tEe Plectranthios grave- 

 olens of E,. Brown. It forms a shrub of two or three feet in height. 

 It is the Fogostemon patchoiily. The odor of the dried plant is 

 strong and peculiar, and to some persons not agreeable. The dried 

 tops imported into England are a foot or more in length. In 

 India it is used as an ingredient in tobacco for smoking, and for 

 scenting the hair of women. In Europe it is principally used for 

 perfumery purposes, it being a favorite with the Erench, who im- 

 port it largely from Bourbon. The Arabs use and export it more 

 than any other nation. Their annual pilgrimship takes up an 

 immense quantity of the leaf. They use it principally for stuffing 

 mattrasses and pillows, and assert that it is very efficacious in pre- 

 venting contagion and prolonging life. It requires no sort of 

 preparation, being simply gathered and dried in the sun ; too 

 much drying, however, is hurtful, inasmuch as it renders the leaf 

 liable to crumble to dust in packing and stowing on board. The 

 characteristic smell of Chinese or Indian ink is owing to an ad- 

 mixture of this plant in its manufacture. M. de Hugel found the 

 plant growing wild near Canton. By distillation it yields a vola- 

 tile oil, on which the odor and remarkable properties depend. 

 This oil is in common use in India for imparting the peculiar 

 fragrance of the leaf to clothes among the superior classes of 

 natives. The origin of its use is this : — A few years ago, real 

 Indian shawls bore an extravagant price, and purchasers could 

 always distinguish them by their odor ; in fact, they were per- 

 fumed with Patchouly ; the Erench manufacturers at length 



