JATAMANSI. HIND. The Cyperus stoloni fetus of Heyne, Retz, and Wight, Contr., but the true Jatamansi is the Nardostachys jatamansi, D. C.; the Balch'haru or Balchur, HIND.; Sanbal-ul-taib, ARAB. ; and Sanbal-i-Hindi, PERS. The true plant is only found at great elevations beyond the tropics, but in South India the term is applied to the sweet-smelling tubers of various species of Cyperus, and in Upper India to the lemon-grass, A. schcenanthus, and other species of Andropogon, which are also known under the names of Askhar and Sikhunas (e-xiyo;-). Sir IV. Jones identified it as the spikenard of the ancients.
In the Makhzau-ul-Adwiab, four separate articles are described,—lst, Sumbul-Hindi ; 2d, Sumbul-Rumi, called also Sumbul-Ukleti and Narden-Ukleti, evidently the vaphoa aylrxa of Dioscorides, said also to be called Sumbul-Italion, that is, the nard which grows in Italy ; the 3d kind is Sumbul-Jabali or Mountain Nard ; and the 4th kind is Sumbul-Farsi, which is a bulbous plant, and is probably a kind of hyacinth.
Polianthes tuberosa is described as being one of the kinds of Persian Sumbul. But the first alone, viz. S. Hindi, is that which is valued for its fragrance. The synonyms of it given by Persian authors are—in the Arabic, Sumbul-ul-Tib, or fragrant nard ; in the Greek, Narden ; in Latin, Nardum ; in Hindi, Balehur and Jatamansi. The last is a Sanskrit name, and that which was given to Sir William Jones as the equivalent of Sumbul-Hindi, and which he informs us, like other Sanskrit names applied to the same article, has reference to its resemblance to locks of hair. —Royle's Ill. Him. Bet. p. 242 ; Elliot's Flora Andhrica.