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Jwarankush Grass
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Jwarankush Grass
P Native Photo: Gurcharan Singh
Common name: Jwarankush Grass, Iwarancusa grass, Rosha Grass • Hindi: Lamjak, Khavi, Bur, ज्वरनकुश Jwarankush • Marathi: Pivalavala • Urdu: IzkharMakki, BekheIzkar
Botanical name: Cymbopogon iwarancusa    Family: Poaceae (Grass family)
Synonyms: Andropogon iwarancusa, Sorghum iwarancusa, Cymbopogon jwarancusa

Jwarankush Grass is a perennial grass with stems erect or geniculately rising up, up to 1.5 m tall. The name probably comes from jwar, meaning fever, and kush meaning grass. Leaf-blades are up to 30 cm long and 5 mm wide, whitish, narrowed at the base, narrowed to a thread-like tip; basal sheaths hairless, flat or coiled; ligule 0.5-4 mm long. False panicle 15-40 cm long, erect; spatheoles lanceshaped to narrowly elliptic, becoming reddish, 1.5-2.5 cm long. Racemes are 1.3-2.2 cm long, lowest flower-stalk not swollen; internodes and flower-stalks densely fringed with hairs along the margins and on the hack. Stalkless spikelet lanceshaped, 4.5-5.5 mm long; lower glume shallowly concave on the back; upper lemma deeply bifid, with an awn 7-10 mm long. Jwarankush Grass is found from Turkey to India to S. Central China.
Medicinal uses: The leaves if Jwarankuch are antirheumatic, antitussive, aromatic, blood purifier, febrifuge, stimulant, sudorific and tonic. They are used in the treatment of fevers, coughs, rheumatism, gout, dyspepsia, cholera etc. The roots are commonly used in India for the treatment of a range of feverish conditions. They are boiled in water until the amount of water is halved and this liquid is then kept in the mouth for 15 - 20 minutes to treat pyorrhea.

Identification credit: Gurcharan Singh Photographed in Hamdard Herbal Garden, Delhi.

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