FLOWERING SEASON AND CLIMATE. 337 



desert. This is especially the case in Upper Sind (represented in our 

 tables by Jacobabad), the dry regions of which are characterized by 

 great variations of temperature, whilst Lower Sind has a more mod- 

 crate and less arid climate. The dampest and most uniform climatic 

 conditions of India are found in the strip of low country which extends 

 from below the Ghats to the west-coast. Here the west wind 

 mitigates the intense effect of the tropical sun, and the Ghats protect 

 the plain against the desiccating winds of the Deccan. In this part 

 of the Presidency the annual mean temperature is almost the same 

 throughout, viz., 79° or 80°. During the summer monsoon the rainfall 

 is very heavy in the Konkan, but not as heavy as on the Ghats. '' The 

 climate of the Deccan, beyond 30 or 40 miles from the crest of the Ghats, 

 is, as a general rule, very dry. The driest portion of the Deccan is a strip 

 running north and south, parallel with the Ghats, and from 50 to 80 

 miles to the east of them. As far south as the latitude of Poona, the 

 zone of country with a rainfall below 30 inches averages not more than 

 100 miles in width ; but to the south of this it extends right across the 

 plateau to the Eastern Ghats." l 



After these climatic considerations I shall try to give as exact a statis- 

 tic account of the flowering periods as possible. The " Flora of British 

 India" and other greater works on Indian vegetation cannot be of any 

 use where regional data are wanted, as it is quite evident, r.g., that the 

 flowering time of a plant in the mountainous region of the Himalaya is 

 quite different from that of the same plant in the lowplain along the 

 west coast of India. The local floras of the Bombay Presidency are 

 not all of the same value as regards the special point of our investiga- 

 tion. The ''Bombay Flora" by Dalzell and Gibson (published in 

 J 86 1 ) contains only scanty dates as to the flowering of plants. % Of a 

 great number of plants no dates at all are given, of many others not 

 the whole flowering period is mentioned, but, as it seems, only that 

 month in which the respective plant was collected in flower. 



In the Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency (Vol. XXV. Botany, 

 1886) Lisboa gives a good description of the timber-trees, food 

 plants, famine plants, oil-yielding plants, fibrous plants, etc., but the 

 flowering time is added to the description of the timber-trees only. 

 No information as to the time of flowering is found in Gray's most 

 valuable " Botany of the Bombay Presidency." As regards " The 



1 H. P. Blanford, page 172. 



