Page:The Journal of Indian Botany.djvu/457

DROUGHT RESISTING PLANTS IN THE DECCAN. 35 brown soil, at Shevgaon on May 9, 1919. The soil round the roots contained 1'65 per cent, of available moisture.

The plant varies a great deal as regards its height and the size of leaves in different situations.

In the present instance it showed an extreme reduction of all the parts, the plant being scarcely three inches high though in flower. The flowering spike was scarcely k inch long. The root was a slender tap root 5 — >6 inches long.

It may be noted that the plant is used as a vegetable by the poorer classes in times of scarcity.

22. Heliotropium zeylanicum Law— It was found in light yellow to brown soil at Shevgaon on May 9, 1919. The soil round the roots contained 1'56 per cent, of available moisture.

The plant responded to the present conditions by undergoing a reduction in the size of the leaves to about — £ that of the well developed ones, as is usual with the plant in such circumstances. The root was a tap root about If feet long and i inch in diameter devoid of lateral branches in the upper half.

23. Taverniera nummularia. DC— Rather common in the place. It was found in deep black sticky soil between Shevgaon and Babhulgaon on May 10, 1919. The soil round the roots contained 3'38 per cent, of available moisture.

The plant was 8 — 10 inches high and very much branched. It showed a distinct reduction of the leaf surface to about — i as com- pared with the well developed specimens, which seems to be its usual response under similar conditions. The root was a tap root a foot long and f inch in diameter with two to three laterals placed at intervals and spreading more or less horizontally.

24. Citrullus colocynthis Schrad.—lt was found in sandy soil in the bed of a dry stream between Shevgaon and Babhulgaon on May 10, 1919. The soil round the roots contained only 0"93 per cent, of available moisture.

The plant seems to respond to such arid conditions by reducing the size of the leaves to f — i and by producing more numerous stout, bulbous-based hairs on the under side of the leaf. It has done the same thing under the present conditions, and has produced a tap root about 18 inches long and about h inch in diameter.

25. Balanites Roxburghii Planch.— Common. This thorny plant was found in brownish sticky soil between Shevgaon and Pathardi* on May 11, 1919. The soil round the roots contained 3'04 per cent, of available moisture.


 * The rainfall at Pathardi and Babhulgaon is practically the same as at Shevgaon.