280 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, XV. 



character are again met with in journeying towards Poona. If the 

 Deccan were ever covered with such forests its climate and soil must 

 have been vastly different in former times. 



The locally accepted vernacular names are added to most of the 

 botanical to assist any enquirer who may work over the same ground. 

 Most of the details were taken down on the spot in my field note books. 

 I have also pointed out a few of the facts which struck me as being very 

 interesting when they came under my own observation, but these 

 woods teem with absorbing lessons to a field botanist and they furnish 

 an endless series of botanical problems. 



Ranunculace^:. 



Clematis hedysarifolia, D. C. Bendri chi vel. 



In all the woods. It is really the commonest small climber in 

 Karla wood ; but all the plants are browsed down to a height of six inches 

 or so. At its best it is never more than a harsh meagre plant. Its 

 brownish flowers are neither conspicuous nor abundant. Its congener 

 Clematis triloba (Mor vel) beautifies the rugged Deccan Hills in the 

 autumn and its flowers have the delightful scent of May. 



Capparide^e. 



Capparis Moonii, Wight, Wagati. 



A spindly climber in dense thickets, but densely covering isolated 

 bushes in the open. The large white flowers are very handsome, but 

 they fall in pieces very rapidly. 



Cratreva religiosa, Forst. f. Wamarang. 



One small tree planted in Karla village, 12 feet high, stem clear for 

 6 feet, girth 1 foot. Petals white, turning yellow, distinctly clawed. 

 This small tree is usually found near temples. 



Malvaceae. 



Thespesia populnea, Soland. Bliendi. 



Cultivated in Karla village and not an actual denizen of the wood. 



Flower large, yellow, with a dark purple eye. 



Thespesia Lampas, T)alz and Gibs. Ran Bliendi (a vernacular name 

 applied indiscriminately to many shrubby members of this order). A 

 lanky shrub bearing fine yellow flowers with dark red centres. 



Bombax malabaricum, B.C. Saier. 



Largest plant in our area measured 60 feet in height, stem clear for 

 25 feet, girth 11 feet. Fruit 4£ inches by If inches, valves woody, 

 brittle, placentas and inner part of dissepiments yellowish brown ; large 

 stellate tufts of cotton often one inch long. These tufts of hairs spring 



