re 
rarely higher than half a metre. The following are the most 
common: Saxaul, Salsola rigida, Artemisia, Halostachys and 
Halimodendron. — In depressions salt-deserts are found which 
are white with salt and produce their own particular vegeta- 
tion closely related to that of the clay-deserts. 
The Growth-Forms of the Clay-desert in Spring 
are Mesophytes, including Ephemeral plants and Perennials 
with short-lived aerial shoots; while in Summer (and of course 
also in spring) we have Xerophytes, some small shrubs and 
undershrubs, others perennials and long-lived annuals. 
As emphasized above, the chief difference between Clay- 
desert and Salt-desert is that the latter lacks the spring- 
aspect. 7 
CHAPTER 8 
The Formation of the Stone-Deserts. 
ANTONOW has recorded (see above p. 35) a formation which 
he calls ‘Promontory or Stone-Steppe’’, said to be character- 
ised by a special flora. This formation, according to the 
nomenclature employed here, cannot be termed steppe but 
must be called desert. Whether it is different from the clay- 
desert as regards its growth-forms I cannot determine with 
certainty because I have seen so little of the stone-desert. 
But it must be more correct to keep apart that which cannot 
with certainty be united, and therefore the stone-deserts will 
be considered here as a special formation. 
The soil of the Stone-deserts is either rock, or gravel 
with stones, or a conglomerate. The layer of conglomerate, 
which is mentioned by ANToNow, is probably the ordinary 
tertiary conglomerate of stones cemented together by a loess- 
like clay. Conglomerates of this kind are very common in 
Turkestan (WALTHER) at the foot of the mountains and higher 
up in the mountain-valleys. 
Where the cement is loess, what was stated about loess 
as a soil (p. 57) holds good here. But the presence of numer- 
