46 
Plants  of  Afghanistan. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Jan.,  1887. 
saline  flavor,  making  the  liquorice  more  palatable.  This  preparation 
is  called  by  Turkomans  Ao-karut,  the  same  term  as  they  apply 
to  whey. 
Astragalus  heratensis,  Bunge,  and  Astragalus  sp.  near  A.  strobilife- 
rus,  Royle. — These  two  species  of  Astragalus  are  very  common  in 
stony  soil  in  the  Hari-rud  valley  and  Khorasan,  at  an  altitude  of  three 
thousand  feet.  The  native  names  for  either  of  these  were  Khon,  Kon 
and  Gabina,  and  for  a  gum  that  exudes  from  them  Kattra.  This 
gum  was  found  attached  to  the  stem  in  the  peculiar  form  of  traga- 
canth,  wherever  it  had  been  able  to  make  its  way  out  through  fissures 
in  the  bark,  and  on  cutting  the  stem  across  the  gum  was  seen  to  pro- 
trude from  the  medullary  space.  It  is  collected  in  large  quantities  in 
the  neighborhood  of  a  village  called  Kalla-roving,  near  Bezd,  in 
Khorasan,  for  exportation  to  India  via  Herat,  and  to  the  sea  coast 
of  Persia. 
Rheum  sp.  near  R.  songaricum,  Schrenk. — I  found  a  very  hand- 
some species  of  rhubarb  on  the  great  plains  in  the  Hari-rud  valley, 
near  Tomanagha,  at  an  altitude  of  two  thousand  feet ;  this  the  natives  call 
Rewash-i-dewana,  viz.,  fool's  rhubarb,  Rewand-i-me'ghan,  Ishkin.  It 
is  very  peculiar  in  its  growth,  producing  three  enormous  basal  leaves, 
which  spread  out  flat  on  the  ground,  each  being  about  four  feet  long 
by  five  feet  across,  and  the  flowering  stem  with  a  loose  spreading  pani- 
cle of  flowers  reaches  a  height  of  about  three  feet;  the  fruit  is  large 
and  winged,  ripening  to  a  ruby  red.  The  ripe  fruit  is  collected  and 
employed  as  a  purgative,  and  when  not  procurable,  the  root  is  substi- 
tuted. I  am  glad  to  say  that  I  have  been  able  to  obtain  a  large  quan- 
tity of  the  seed,  which  has  been  distributed  to  several  gardens ;  some 
plants  have  already  sprung  up,  and  are  doing  well  in  the  gardens 
at  Kew. 
Orchis  laxiflora,  Linn.,  and  Orchis  latifolia,  Linn. — I  obtained  the 
two  species  of  orchis  in  a  few  localities  in  the  Badghis,  the  Hari-rud 
valley,  and  Khorasan,  and  near  Meshad  I  came  across  people  digging 
for  the  tubers  of  these  orchids,  which  they  called  "salab"  and  "salap." 
In  several  places  where  I  had  purchased  the  dry  tubers  I  was  told 
by  the  vendor  that  they  were  not  procurable  in  Afghanistan,  but  only 
near  Meshad.  There  can  now  be  no  doubt  from  my  identifications  on 
the  spot  that  the  tubers  generally  exported  from  Meshad  into  India 
through  Afghanistan  are  those  of  the  above  species.  In  Meshad  I 
was  informed  that  these  were  Sdlap,  but  not  Sdlap-misri ;  that  the 
