Plant for ID: Kerala: August 30, 2024

[Nancy Seby]

Hi, 

Please help ID this plant - it is a species of grass that only grows 10-20 cm tall.

The specialty is that they have long white strands growing from the nodes. And these strands will retain water almost like a jelly.

Photograph was taken in Kerala, Ernakulam district in August. When it is not raining, the white strands will be dry.

Regards

Nancy Seby

[Nancy Seby]

Sorry I forgot to attach images to my previous mail.

[J.M. Garg]

Thanks, Nancy ji

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With regards,
J.M.Garg

[J.M. Garg]

Thanks a lot, Manoj ji

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Manoj Chandran 
Date: Sat, 14 Sept 2024 at 13:40
Subject: Re: [efloraofindia:469491] Re: Plant for ID: Kerala: August 30, 2024
To: J.M. Garg <jmg...@gmail.com>

Such nodal  adventitious roots with dense liquid drops at the tips are found in a few species of grasses growing on mud walls in Kerala and many other places in high rainfall areas in the west coast of India. The grass in this picture is Ischaemum ciliare. 

These drops are called 'Pullenna' meaning 'grass oil' in Malayalam and are also applied to eyes and believed to brighten vision. I am not sure whether these are water trapped by the root hairs at the tip of these adventitious roots or whether they are a result of guttation of plant sap exuded from the root hairs.

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With regards,
J.M.Garg

[Nancy Seby]

Thank you very much, Mr. Manoj and Mr. Garg. That's a beautiful explanation:)

We used to apply them to our eyes as kids. And now, I was thinking that it was stupid to apply random grass to the eyes. Good to know that there was some science behind it.

Warm regards

Nancy

[J.M. Garg]

Thanks, Nancy ji, for the details. 

To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/indiantreepix/40e65c80-5731-4e07-9517-d16b7b1ab742n%40googlegroups.com.

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With regards,
J.M.Garg