Nardostachys
(from nardos, a sweet-scented shrub, and stachys, a spike; the Nardus of the ancients was close akin to this plant, and not connected with the modest grass of that name). ORD. Valerianeae. This genus comprises a couple of species of hardy perennial herbs, natives of the Himalayas. Corolla red or purplish; cymes at the apices of the branches or stems, scape-formed, dense, sub-capitate. Leaves entire, radical ones elongated, stem ones few. Root short, thick, fibrous, very fragrant. The species introduced is N. Jatamansi, which, according to Dr. Royle, is the Spikenard of the ancients. N. Jatamansi (Jatamansi). fl. in dense small heads, arranged in a trichotomously-branched terminal panicle; corolla pale rosepurple, cylindric, gibbous at base, and contracted into a very short, narrow tube; lobes rounded, dorsal one larger; scape 4in. to 10in. high. September. l. tufted, 2in. to 4in. long, rarely longer, elliptic-lanceolate or spathulate, acute; nerves obscure, narrowed into a long or short petiole. Root fusiform, inclined, terminating upwards in a simple or forked ascending stock, 1in. to 3in. long, densely clothed with the black fibrous remains of the old petioles. 1878. (B. M. 6564.)