135 



about 7 metres high was growing on sandy soil in the valley 

 of the oasis. 



The vegetation here is undoubtedly influenced by the 

 neighbourhood of the river, the occurrence of Lycium in the 

 desert is strongly suggestive of this. It is very plentiful in 

 the riverside-forest, and the desert specimens no doubt origi- 

 nate from there. 



13. Sand-desert near Nukus (Chiwa). The desert lies 

 beyond a narrow fringe of thickets along the bank of the 

 river and is limited by a glissade-slope descending to the 

 river. In the desert near this slope are seen some darker 

 patches which are hard rocks in situ drifted over by sand 

 and protruding above it. These patches are almost devoid 

 of vegetation, only a few specimens of Salsola sogdiana and 

 Halimocnemis sp. being seen. On the fine loose yellowish 

 sand where the sand-drift is very slight, the vegetation is 

 far richer, the soil being occasionally rather closely occupied 

 with tufts of plants. Artemisia maritima(1) is here very com- 

 mon and the following were also noted: Reaumuria oxiana, 

 small Calligonum bushes, Ammodendron sp. (with the shrubby 

 form although attaining a height of 3 metres), low Saxauls 

 and Salsola Arbuscula, Heliotropium sogdianum, Haplophyllum 

 obtusifolium and a few poorly developed tufts of Aristida 

 pennata. 



SECTION III. GROWTH FORMS 



CHAPTER 12 



Plant-list and Statistics. 



The following gives a list of the plants of the desert-area 

 treated in this memoir. Mountain-plants and species which 

 only occur on cultivated land are excluded, but it includes 

 aquatic and marsh-plants and the species occurring in the 



