Note 452 — Chapter XXV

While on the subject of sacred Hindu plants, I may also mention the soma juice, so often alluded to in the Vedas, which comes from a leafless asclepiad (Sarcostemma viminale) with white flowers in terminal umbels, which appear during the rains, in the Deccan: the holy kusa-grass (Poa cynosuroides), made into ropes in the N.W. provinces: the peepul-tree, the banyan, the neem (Melia Azadyraclita): the Cratæva religiosa, specially sacred to Siva: the Nerium odorum, sacred to Vishnu and Siva: the Cæsalpinia pulcherrima, sacred to Siva: the Guettarda speciosa, sacred to Siva and Vishnu: the Origanum marjoranum, a labiate plant sacred to Vishnu and Siva: the Caryophyllum inophyllum, sacred to Vishnu and Siva: the Pandanus odoratissimus, sacred to Vishnu and Mariama, but offensive to Siva: the Artemisia astriaka, sacred to Vishnu and Siva: the Ocimum sanctum or toolsu, a labiate plant with a white flower, specially sacred to Vishnu and Krishna: and the Chrisanthemum Indicum, a yellow flower, sacred to Vishnu and Siva.