TODA
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the hill-sides. The Todas scornfully deny the use of aphrodisiacs, but both men and women admit that they take sālep misri boiled in milk, to make them strong. Sālep misri is made from the tubers (testicles de chiens)of various species of Eulophia and Habenaria belonging to the natural order Orchideæ.
The indigenous edible plants and pot-herbs include the following: —
- (1) Cnicus Wallichii (thistle). — The roots and flower-stalks are stripped of their bark, and made into soup or curry.
- (2) Girardinia heterophylla (Nīlgiri nettle). — The tender leafy shoots of vigorously growing plants are gathered, crushed by beating with a stick to destroy the stinging hairs, and made into soup or curry. The fibre of this plant, which is cultivated near the mands, is used for stitching the putkuli, with steel needles purchased in the bazar in lieu of the more primitive form. In the preparation of the fibre, the bark is thrown into a pot of boiling water, to which ashes have been added. After a few hours' boiling, the bark is taken out and the fibre extracted.
- (3) Tender shoots of bamboos eaten in the form of curry.
- (4) Alternant her a sessilis.
- Stellaria media.
- Amarantus spinosus.
- Amarantus polygonoides.
The following list of plants, of which the fruits are eaten by the Todas, has been brought together by Mr. K. Rangachari: —
- Eugenia Arnottiana. — The dark purple juice of the fruit of this tree is used by Toda women for painting beauty spots on their faces.
