67 



form large woody masses at, or close below, the ground sur- 

 face. Examples are : 



Clerodendron serratum, Careya lierbacea and Combretum 

 nanum. 



A plant which is usually found growing in company with Gregarious 

 many other plants of the same species is said to be gregarious, p" an t 8 p 

 such as the Sal, many Bamboos and species of Strobilanthes. 



A plant the individuals of which are widely scattered from 

 each other is sporadic. 



Although the above distinctions are useful for describing 

 plants it must be understood that here, as elsewhere in mor- 

 phology, the distinctions are not absolute. Intermediate forms 

 between the types selected are frequently found while in one 

 and the same plant the distinctions cannot always be in- 

 sisted on. In our Indian forests we have many examples 

 of plants which in some localities are climbers while in 

 others they are erect shrubs, or trees, e.g. Acacia pennata 

 and Carissa spinarum. Again in some localities Leea aspera 

 and Clerodendron serratum are perennial herbs, in others 

 undershrubs, and in others large shrubs. Trees which are 

 continually browsed by cattle when young may be prevented 

 from developing normally and be temporarily reduced to 

 shrubs ; in other cases their serial stems may be more or 

 less completely killed down to the ground annually by fires, 

 or frost, and they may thus be reduced temporarily to 

 undershrubs, or perennial herbs, new shoots being sent up 

 yearly from the stock. 



The common arhar, Cajanus indicus, is usually an annual, 

 but is sometimes biennial. By artificially preventing the 

 flowering of some plants, also, it has been found possible to 

 convert an annual into a perennial. In annuals the whole 

 plant dies annually, and although in perennials this does not 

 happen, still some portion of the plant usually dies and 

 is shed annually. In many trees and shrubs the leaves do 

 not live for 12 months and the plants are consequently 

 bare of green foliage during some part of the year. They are 

 called deciduous, while those plants which have green foliage ^ 



, , , . , T TIL Evergreen 



throughout the year are evergreen. In some trees and shrub? Deciduous 

 small twigs die and are thrown off, as in Pines, Phyllanthus Plants. 

 Emblica and Strobilanthes Wallichii, while in the American 

 Swamp Cypress, Taxodium distichum, large branches are 

 periodically shed. 



