Chap. IX] 



DESERTS 



625 



pinnatifida, and a species of Lonicera occur as shrubs, and Phragmites 

 communis forms the reeds. 



The Chenopodiaceae predominate in the desert flora,, especially on exten- 

 sive saline tracts. A prominent part is also played by Tamaricaceae as 

 shrubs (Tamarix, Reaumuria), species of Artemisia and Astragalus, Poly- 

 gonaceae (Calligonum, Fig. 358, in the Gobi species of Rheum), Liliaceae 

 (Allium, Tulipa), and some grasses. 



Fig. 359. Desert of Gobi. Oasis of Keria. After Piertzow. 



Most of these plants are small-leaved or aphyllous, and in general pro- 

 tected against drought in the same manner as in the Sahara. Here also, 

 plants are some of them dependent on the spring rain, and visible above 

 ground for only a few weeks, but others are supplied by subterranean water 

 and bear leaves during the whole, or a great part, of summer. Radde men- 

 tions the rapid disappearance of the spring flora, in particular of Cruciferae 

 and grasses, when summer heat begins. The most conspicuous constituents 

 of the ephemeral flora are, however, tulips, in particular Tulipa uniflora, 

 which seems to be present everywhere in the Gobi and frequently in large 

 numbers, and led Przhevalsky to remark about the Dzungarian desert, the 

 north-west branch of the Gobi, which is otherwise so bare, that ' the plain 

 was as if transformed by the beauty of its flowering, scented tulips V 



1 Przhevalsky, II, p. 11. 



SCHIMPHR g g 



