1^2 A NOTE ON PLANTS USED DURING FAMINES AND SEASONS 
Dr. J. C. Lisboa (Gazetteer, Bombay Presidency, Volume XXV, 
pp. igo-209) (1886) mentioned ‘^that it is curious to find in many 
reports written on the subject that plants and vegetables that are 
eaten all the year round in ordinary times are sometimes included 
in the lists of famine foods.^^ He also states, with forcible truth, 
that it is a difificult task for a single man, however long he may 
have resided in the country, to obtain an accurate list of all the 
food grains and vegetables eaten by the natives of India during 
ordinary seasons and those of scarcity. It is also a fact that 
even well-to-do natives eat some of the wild herbs found in or, 
about their villages, either as a change or as an addition to the. 
meals or when a supply of good cultivated vegetables is not pro- 
curable, and many of them make a point to use, at least once a 
year, made into shak baji^ herbs and tubers usually eaten by the 
humbler classes, whether cultivated or uncultivated, under the 
belief that such a proceeding assists in warding off various causes 
of disease,” 
In my own opinion it is neither politic nor desirable to obtain 
a complete list of all the plants used in times of stress, as any plant, 
not absolutely poisonous or repugnant to the taste, will serve, and 
besides, the self-respecting attitude of the very poor protects them 
from minute research into the details of their poverty. Another 
point must also be remembered, and, that is, in an enquiry of this 
description, the people, from an intense dread of ridicule, will often 
withhold information regarding even their ordinary articles of 
diet. • A cursory examination of the list will prove that, with very 
few exceptions, the plants named are palpable makeshifts for more 
wholesome food and that, even were they subjected to rigid selection 
under long-continued cultivation, the result would not repay the 
labour and anxiety entailed. 
The Special Civil Officer in charge of famine relief works at 
Khamgaon Tank, Poona District, remarks : ^^The poorer classes 
make use of the grass seeds and green vegetation when they have 
not sufficient food, but some of the seeds and vegetation being 
injurious to human health, the workers are not allowed to make use 
of them. Besides, the price of the common staple food grain, bajri 
not being very heavy during this famine, no necessity compelled 
them to make use of the seeds, etc. If these latter are not 
properly cooked and are eaten in too great quantity they tend 
to produce diarrhoea and dysentery and are, therefore, strictly 
prohibited from use on this work. The entire use of these and other 
