65 



WATER-YIELDING PLANTS FOUND IN THE 



THANA FORESTS. 



By G. M. Ryan, i.f.s. f.l.s. 



{Head before the Bombay Natural History Society on 29th Sept. 1904.) 



Calycopteris floribunda, commonly known as Ukshi in Thana, is one 

 of the most interesting (if not the most interesting) scandent shrubs of the 

 Thana District. In alluding to it as such, however, it is necessary to 

 explain that this is not its habit of growth in all parts of India. In the 

 ''Flora of British India" it is described as "a diffuse dense 



shrub not at all scandent," but Sir Dietrich Brandis, in his 



" Flora of N.-W. Central India," and Mr. Gamble, in his " Manual of 

 Indian Timbers," both refer to it as possessing a climbing habit. 



In the Thana District it may be seen both as a diffuse shrub and 

 formidable scandent one. When standing isolated in waste areas it 

 seems to acquire the former habit in consequence of being lopped annu- 

 ally for fuel and tahal,* and when growing in the forest amidst large-tree 

 growth it assumes a scandent form. Attention cannot help but being 

 directed towards this interesting member of the vegetable world, espe- 

 cially at the commencement of the hot weather when in flower, for it 

 then forms a most attractive plant. As a climber its pretty pale 

 golden flowers bedeck the illuminated heights of a tree covering it, 

 as it were, with glory, and as a shrub its pale golden inflorescence 

 is even still more abundant and handsome. It has often been a 

 surprise under the circumstances why Calycopteris floribunda has not 

 been more utilized as an ornamental plant in gardens in Western 

 India. Its climbing habit probably has been a barrier to its in- 

 troduction, but this can easily be checked by yearly attention. A 

 very fine specimen of the shrub exists in the hanging gardens on the 

 Gibbs Road, Malabar Hill. Bombay, and Mr. W. S. Millard, one of the 

 Honorary Secretaries of the Natural History Society, who is superin- 

 tending the horticultural improvements at Malabar Point, states that 

 specimens of this scandent shrub may be seen in Government House 

 grounds there. The Ukshi, when a scandent shrub, ascends the bole of 

 a tree in a characteristic manner, climbing from left to right. Having 

 established itself in the forest in some spot not far from a tree it extends 



* Tahal is the term used in the Thana District for the branchwood and leaves which are 

 cut to provide wood-ash manure for the rice nursery beds. 

 9 



