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afforded to the dormant shoot-apices. In countries where the 
conditions are always favourable the Fanerophytes are domi- 
nant, their dormant buds being attached to branches which 
project freely into the air. The group thus includes shrubs 
and trees. RAUNKIÆR subdivides them into four groups accor- 
ding to size. Only the two lower of these groups are repre- 
sented in the Transcaspian desert namely Microfanerophytes 
(2—8 metres) and Nanofanerophytes (less than 2 metres) 
whereas Mega- and Mesofanerophytes are absent. In the 
second column of our list Fanerophytes are denoted by F. 
The next group is the Chamaephytes. The dormant 
buds of this group are found on the surface of the ground 
or just over it. In the former case they are plants with 
above-ground creeping and persistent shoots; in the latter 
case they are cushion-plants or undershrubs, the latter being 
conspicuous by their stunted stature and by the distal or 
apical parts of the year-shoots dying away during the unfav- 
ourable season. Chamaephytes are denoted by Ch. 
Then follow the Hemicryptophytes, with their dormant 
buds situated in the uppermost soil just in the surface, while 
the aerial shoots are not perennial. In the list they are 
denoted by H. 
The Cryptophytes form the fourth group, characterised 
by the dormant buds being subterranean or subaquatic. 
They include aquatic and marsh-plants denoted by H H and 
Geophytes denoted in the list by G. 
The Therophytes or plants of the favourable season are 
the best protected, as they live through the unfavourable 
season as seeds, they are thus annual plants and are denoted 
in the list by Th. 
An attempt has been made to allocate each species in 
the list to the growth-form to which it belongs. This has 
been no easy task because of incomplete knowledge of many 
species, especially as descriptions and herbarium specimens 
are very often unsatisfactory in this respect. It is therefore 
probable that some mistakes have been made. Some will 
no doubt neutralize others, but later on it will be shown 
that the results arrived at by enumeration agree fairly well 
with statistics from other areas with similar conditions of 
