Page:The Journal of Indian Botany.djvu/119

CURRENT LITERATURE. 93 of cooler climates. Among the latter are species of Ranunculus, Fumaria, Lathyrits, Draba, Tamarix, Astragalus, Vicia, Primus, Bupleurum, Carduus, Olea, Antirrhinum, Linaria, Plantago, Euphorbia^Salix, Populus, and Asphodelus; many of them by the same species as occur in Europe. Among genera and species common in South India are Cleome, Camparis, including (C. aphylla Roth which occurs in Tinnevelly), Tribulus, Citrus medica (orange), Gymno, sporia montana Benth. , Zizyphus jujuba Lam., Dodonosa viscosah., Desmodium, Terminalia Catappa, L., Eugenia jambolana Lam., Launcea, Tylophora, Cordia myxa L., PLeliotropiun, Trichodesma, Solatium nigrum L., Sesarnum indicum D.C., Ocimum basilicum L., JErua. lanala Juss., Aristida, and several others. Many of the common species are no doubt cultivated, for the sake of their edible fruits or their use for pot-herbs! but apart from them it is clear that, though the species are different, there is a good deal of affinity in the genera, between the Persian Baluchistan and the drier parts of the Carnatic. The temperate genera and species, it will be noticed, are mostly herbs and without doubt belong to the cool winter months.

P. F. F.

W, T. Saxton, m.a., f.l.s., i.e.s, I.A.R.O., and L. J Sedgwick, b.a., f.l.s., I.C.S., Plants of Northern Guzarat. — -Becords of the Botanical Survey of India, Vol. VI, No. 7.

Though published in 1918, this monograph was written in 1914-15. As the authors explain, it deals with only a small fraction of Northern Gujarat, namely, the immediate neighbourhood of Ahmedabad, and the taluks of Prantij and Modasa, which lie to the north-east of that city. These taluks touch the fringe of the great Malwa forest region. Kharagoda on the Rann of Cutch has been included on the strength of one visit, and this has resulted in the inclusion of some of the halophytes of the Rann, with the inevitable omission of others, and excludes the possibility of a full discussion of the flora of that interesting region.

The work is divided into three parts, viz., Parti — Descriptive and Analy- tical, Part II — CEcology, and Part III — Flora. As described in the firit part the area worked includes the pure sand tracts round Ahmedabad, some black soil tracts in Modasa, and the stony hills near Modasa where the Malwa forests begin. The main interest of this part of the work is that it brings out how the Perso-Arabian flora and the Indo-Malayan flora meet in Gujarat. On the whole the character of the flora of the sand tracts is essentially Perso- Arabian. The Perso-Arabian plants mentioned on page 216 are, as the floral part shows, denizens of the sand region ; while the Indo-Malayan plants listed on the same page are similarly seen to be mainly denizens of the Malwa forest system. The line dividing the two great floras is, therefore, fairly definite, and could be ultimately plotted on a floral map of Asia. Apart from the presence of Perso-Arabian plants the total absence of many of the important Indo-Malayan families and genera is significant. For instance, there is not a single Orchid, Aroid, Amaryllid or Ginger, nor any species of StrobiIanth.es, Dalbergia, Hedyotis, Anotis, Flemingia, Smithia, Impatiens, Arundinella and a host of other typically Indo-Malayan genera. The flora is essentially a xerophytic one, with the addition of an important swamp flora typical of Indian marshes and tanks. In fact this swamp-flora and a handful