Mick Talbot says:
Saccharum spontaneum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kans grass - Wild Sugarcane
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Genus: Saccharum
Species: S. spontaneum
Binomial name: Saccharum spontaneum
Kans grass (Saccharum spontaneum)
<Kans grass (Saccharum spontaneum) (Hindi: काँस kām̥s, Oriya: କାଶତଣ୍ଡି kāśataṇḍi) Assamese: কঁহুৱা, খাগৰী kahuwa, khagori is a grass native to South Asia. It is a perennial grass, growing up to three meters in height, with spreading rhizomatous roots.
<In the Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands, a lowland ecoregion at the base of the Himalaya range in Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Bhutan, kans grass quickly colonises exposed silt plains created each year by the retreating monsoon floods, forming almost pure stands on the lowest portions of the floodplain. Kans grasslands are an important habitat for the Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis). In Nepal, kans grass is harvested to thatch roofs or fence vegetable gardens.
<Elsewhere, its ability to quickly colonize disturbed soil has allowed it to become an invasive species that takes over croplands and pasturelands.
Uses
Saccharum spontaneum has a considerable number of regional names in South Asia, for instance kash [কাশ] being common in Bengali/Bangla [বাংলা]. Some of these are given, along with Ayurvedic medical properties.
References
Wild Edible Plants of Assam
Medicinal Plants of Assam
Pankaj Oudhia (2001-3)
Mick Talbot says:
Phoenix sylvestris
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Arecales
Family: Arecaceae
Genus: Phoenix
Species: sylvestris
Binomial name Phoenix sylvestris (L.) Roxb., 1832
Phoenix sylvestris (sylvestris - Latin, of the forest) also known as Silver Date Palm or Sugar Date Palm, is a species of flowering plant in the palm family native to southern Pakistan, most of India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Growing in plains and scrubland to 1300 m, the fruit from this palm species is used to make wine and jelly. The sap is tapped and drunk fresh or fermented into toddy. The fresh sap is boiled to make palm jaggery in West Bengal state of India and Bangladesh.
The plant is known as "Wal Indi", "val Indi",(වල්ඉංදි ) by Sinhalese people in Sri Lanka. The word `Phoenix`in the Latin name came from Greek and means "purple". while `Sylvestris` means "wild". The leaves may be used for making mats, bags etc. The tree is tapped to make a toddy or palm wine.
Description
P. sylvestris ranges from 4 to 15 m in height and 40 cm in diameter; not as large as the Canary Island Date Palm, but nearly so, and resembling it. The leaves are 3 m long, gently recurved, on 1 m petioles with acanthophylls near the base. The leaf crown grows to 10 m wide and 7.5 to 10 m tall containing up to 100 leaves. The inflorescence grows to 1 metre with white, unisexual flowers forming to a large, pendent infructescence. The single-seeded fruit ripens to a purple-red colour.
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