Forwarding again for Id confirmation or otherwise pl. Earlier relevant feedback: “*This is nothing but the rootstock of Agave americana or A. sisalana*. The plant is uprooted in the stage of when it starts producing the flowering shoot (before flowering). At this stage the rootstock is (slightly) sweet due to enormous amount of starch stored for producing the robust inflorescence that happens once in its lifetime. Depend upon the plant size, the rootstock can be up to 1 m or at least 50 cm. The local person collect this, add some cosmetics. He will wipe the center with cloth soaked in saccharine (u can't see that but) each time he makes a slice. So the slices will be very sweet. We have prepared a photo album of all steps involved in this. If the id/plant is correct, the credit goes to Dr. D. Narasimhan of Madras Christian College, Chennai who told us about the plant. Maerua oblongifolia is another plant that is linked with the local name 'boomi sakkarai' meaning 'sweet tuber in the earth'. But its root never attain this size.”
"New development : As informed earlier I visited to meet the Ram Kand sellers today. They never share their trade secret but in Rs.2000 one of them invited me to inform about the plant as well as processing. *He informed that it is not Agave americana. It is wild tuber which prefers sandy soil to grow.* They collect it either from Amarkantak or Narsinghnath forest where soil is sandy. He ruled out the use of Saccarin or other sweet material as the taste of tuber is itself sweet. I visited to famous Sirpur Mela today and interacted with tens of Traditional Healers. Many guessed it as roots of old Bombax but they have never used it. During interaction I got interesting information. One of sellers married with a girl of village named Bhainsa and as result many relatives of the girl got information about this Ram Kand. They started growing it in village. When I got this information without any delay started for that village but my little Maruti Alto failed to cross Mahanadi river having no bridge. Planning to visit the village in coming days. regards Pankaj Oudhia" ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Pankaj Oudhia <[email protected]> Date: 8 February 2010 00:26 Subject: [efloraofindia:27321] CG2010-2 To: efloraofindia <[email protected]> Dear Group Members, Please help in identification. Picture taken in Rajim Kumbh Mela, Chhattisgarh today. Sold as Ram Kanda. Sellers were from Nasik. Pankaj Oudhia -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "efloraofindia" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]<indiantreepix%[email protected]> . For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix?hl=en. -- With regards, J.M.Garg ([email protected]) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1 'Creating awareness of Indian Flora & Fauna' Image Resource of more than a thousand species of Birds, Butterflies, Plants etc. (arranged alphabetically & place-wise): http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:J.M.Garg For learning about Indian Flora, visit/ join Google e-group- Efloraofindia: http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "efloraofindia" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix?hl=en.
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