482 



HERBACEOUS MONSOON FLORA AT CASTLE ROCK 

 AND A NEW SPECIES OF BALSAM. 



BY 



L. J. Sedgwick, f.l.s., i.c.s. 



The flora of the Western Ghats has been well explored in the 

 dry season, but very little in the monsoon. The present visit to 

 Castle Rock was made in the second week of August 1917. AVith 

 the wa-iter were Messrs. T. R. D. Bell and P. F. Fyson. The 

 visit was necessarily a short one, and the plant collecting work was 

 too arduous to leave anj?- time for an oecological analysis of the forma- 

 tions. Castle Rock is well below the water shed and well under 

 2,000 feet elevation. The rainfall is excessive, 250-300 inches or 

 more. It would vary from point to point, so the exact average oi 

 any one gauge is immaterial. The following notes relate to 

 herbaceous monsoon flora only : — 



Gekaniace^. 



Imjmtiens acaulis, Aru. 



A beautiful plant, growing on stone faces, such as culvert walls, unci 

 occasionally on the lower parts of tree trunks. Gregarious when it 

 occurs, and owing to its large and handsome flowers very conspicuous. 

 The plant dries to the merest transparent film. 



/. oppositifolia, Linn. 



Extremely abundant in the opener places. Its peculiar feature is the 

 wide range of colour exhibited by its flowers. The commonest colour is a 

 curious shade of deep brick-red. But within a few square feet will be 

 found twenty or thirty difl'erent shades from rose pink and salmon pink, 

 to deep vermilion and crimson. This point is rather important, as colour 

 is sometimes used in the systematic analysis of the genus. 



/. kleinii, Wt. and Aru. 



Very abundant. 



I, sp. noca, near to kleinii. 



Below will be found a full account of this plant. By the Railway line and 

 elsewhere. Not nearly so common as I. kleinii, but closely associated 

 with that species. 



Begoniace^e. 



Bcfjonia crenata, Dryand. 



Very common on stones in forest. 



Begonia concanensis, D.C. 



Only observed in one place, at the foot of a steep bank, hidden by other 

 vegetation. A much larger and more robust plant than crenata. 



RUBIACE.E. 



The prevalence of Rubiaceous herbs is certainly one of the features of the 

 monsoon flora. 



