378 Floristik, Geographie, Systematik etc. 



Die Bearbeitung stützt sich zum grossen Teile auf Rei(ihenbac h- 

 Host- und Wulfe n's Originalien. Autorreferat. 



Haines, H. H., A Forest Flora of Chota Nagpur. (XXXVII. 

 634 pp., with a map. Calcutta, 1910.) 



Chota Nagpur is the region op plateaux of about 2000 feet 

 or 600 metres altitude, west and south of the Ganges, and as it 

 were the node where the Vindhyan, Satpurahills and Rastern 

 Ghats unite. The highest point is Parasnath, 4479 feet or 1378 

 metres, classical ground to the botanist. Chota Nagpur is note- 

 worthy as affording the second indian area of Shorea robiista: the 

 other being under the Himalaya from the Sutlej to its eastern 

 limits. It has long been occupied by jungle tribes with wasteful 

 ways of cultivation who have destro3^ed the fine forests to such a 

 degree that much of the land now suffers from summer droughts. 



The best forests remain near the southern side .of the area; 

 evergreen forests often in deep Valleys containing as noteworthy 

 and local plants: Pygeiim aciuninatuni, Lasiauthns lancijolms, 

 Ardisia depressa, Cyclosteinon assaniiciis, Michelia Chmnpaca, Sym- 

 plocos spicata, Litsaea nitida, Macaranga indica, Lysimachia pediin- 

 cidaris, Trevesia palmata, Raphistemma pulchellum, Sauropus pubes- 

 ceus^ Laportea crenidata, Honialiiim nepalense, Musa ornata, Liciiala 

 peltatn, Caryota urenSj and a sweet, wild form of the orange, nearlj^ 

 all of which, again, are species of Sikkim, Assam and the Mal ay 

 Peninsula as well as all (except perhaps Raphistemma and Cyclos- 

 teinon) belonging to Chinese genera. 



Other representatives of the damp tropical flora which occur 

 in Chota Nagpur are: Scindapsus, Piper longum, Heteropanax, 

 Garcinia Cowa and some Aroids, Ampelidaceae and species of Ficiis. 



In the north-west of Chota Nagpur the climate becomes 

 drier; about Palamow Hardwickia binata, Capparis separia and 

 Balanites Roxburghii are common. 



The Vegetation on the whole though essentially tropophilous. 

 has yet a marked tendency towards xerophilous structure, which is 

 seen in the most characteristic tree of the area Shorea robiista ; for 

 in it the leaves are markedly coriaceous. 



Shorea robusta is nearly or quite leafless for a short time in 

 March : but it is not xerophilous enough to persist on the driest 

 aspects. There Cleistanthus coUinus, Anogeissus latifolia, Odina Wodier, 

 Nyctanthes Arbor-tristis and other species constitute a forest of 

 mixed type. Thick-stemmed Euphorbias, leaf}' only after the annual 

 rainy season has commenced, together with fleshy Sarcostemma 

 grow in the very driest places. The trees of spots a little less dry 

 are such as Sterculia urens, Odina Wodier and Cochlospermiim 

 Gossypium and they have a long leafless period of six months 

 or more, extending bare limbs against the sk3^-lines of the hüls to 

 the furnace winds of May. It is noteworthy that manj'^ of these 

 trees which are leafless for prolonged periods have a chloroph3il 

 \2i\er under their white outer bark. 



Rubiaceae such as Gardenia and Wendlandia, Acanthaceae, 

 Bauhinias, Diospyros, Terminalias, Zisyphus spp., Cleistanthus 

 colliniis, Nyctanthes Arbor-tristis, Aegle Marmelos and Dendrocalamas 

 strictus after Shorea robusta attract attention. 



The hin of Parasnath carries several plants from the Hirn alaya 

 which in the country south of the Ganges appear only on it. 



