32 THE JOURNAL OF INDIAN BOTANY. 



The plant varies a good deal as regards the size of the leaves and 

 their hairiness. 



As collected here the plant was about 6 — 8 inches in height. It 

 was thickly covered with stiff and stinging hairs The root stock was 

 thick about § inch in diameter, soon divided into several rather stout 

 lateral root-branches about 1 — 2 feet long and spreading obliquely. 

 The leaves were tripartite to the base with narrow and divided lobes 

 which were about an inch long and §- inch broad. The plant was not 

 in flower or fruit. 



Thus the hairiness of the leaves had increased and their size was 

 reduced to at least I — i the size to be found in favourably placed 

 plants. 



9. Echinops echinatus Roxb,— This prickly plant with cot- 

 tony under surface of the leaf is very common in the tract. It was 

 found on light grey coarse soil (murum) on uncultivable land. The 

 soil round the roots contained 1.55 per cent, of available moisture. 



The plant only shows some little variation as regards the size 

 it attains in different situations, and in the present instance it only 

 showed a slight reduction in the same. Its root was a tap root 6 — 8 

 inches long and | inch in diameter devoid of lateral branches. 



10. Leptadenia reticulata W. £ .4. — This was found in 

 medium black or brownish soil of rather sticky character, at Belapur, 

 on May 7, 1919. The soil round the roots contained 2.33 per cent, of 

 available moisture. 



The plant varies a great deal as regards the size of the leaves in 

 various situations. The leaves have accordingly become very small 

 in the present instance. They only attained f — 1 by | — \ inch. The 

 plant was peculiar in having a root about lu feet long and \ — § inch 

 in diameter. The root stock was about an inch and a half in dia- 

 meter and gave rise to several branches of the stem. The root 

 spread horizontally about six inches below the surface of the soil and 

 had a few long and slender branches. The old root and the old part 

 of the stem had a rough and deeply cracked corky bark. The leaves 

 of this plant are used as a vegetable in times of scarcity by the 

 poorer people. 



11. Cucumis trigOilUS Roxb.— This was found in medium 

 black, sticky soil at Belapur, on May 7, 1919. The soil round the 

 roots contained 2'59 per cent, of moisture. 



The plant seems to vary much as regards the length of the 

 branches and the size, division and hairiness of the leaves, in differ- 

 ent situations. 



In the present instance also the size of leaves is reduced to | — | 

 pf the usual size and their division and hairiness seem to be more 



