268 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [N.S., XV, 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
Page 
Introduction .. oe 268 
1. The Vegetation . the Stony Dese a oe 
2. The Vegetation of the ere re Saline Streams Femme ff: 
3. The Vegetation ot the Alluv .. 274 
4. The Vegetation of Sand Dunes ; peared f(s 
5. The Vegetation of the Hamun-i-He Iman 276 
6. Ryeeaers List of Plants collected ey Dr. Annandale i in . 
7. ibis atenndtte List of Fodder-Plants collected by Major F. W. 
Thomas in Seistan. 293 
INTRODUCTION. 
Seistan is one of the most easterly and at the same = 
perhaps the most isolated of the districts of Persia, lying just 
north of the point at which Persia, Afghanistan and Baluchis- 
tan meet. It has been described as an oasis in the desert, but 
any country more unlike the conventional idea of an oasis— 
an island of herbage and palm-trees in a sea of yellow sand— 
it would be hard to imagine ; for it is an undulating plain (or 
rather low plateau, less than 2,000 feet above sea-level) of stiff 
grey clay, almost bare to the eye in winter, containing a large 
lake of almost fresh water and surrounded by black stony desert. 
It is in fact the inland delta of the Helmand river and the 
basin into which that river drains. The Helmand has escaped 
the fate of most bodies of water in Persia—that of desiccation 
or salinitv—by reason of the fact that it runs for the greater 
arenes Its waters are fresh, but the soil of the basin into 
whic ey flow is impregnat ated with soluble mineral salts 
These id naturally dissolve and the solution rises through 
the soil by capillary action, forming a kind of cement which is 
very infertile and has to be removed before any kind of agri- 
culture becomes possible. When this has been ae the soil 
becomes fertile, and yields two crops of barley a Many 
of the streams are, however, so saline that the re pacer 
at their mar 
We can hs distinguish in Seistan several Baad! ssa 
vironment, and therefore of vegetation. There 
the Vegetation of the stony desert, that of the alluvial sine 
an almost normal lacustrine vegetation and a highly special- 
— halophytic one. There is also in some parts of the country 
a sand-dune vegetation. All these different types: of vege- 
clay or on sand-dunes. Moreover, the most fertile part of the 
country, which lies in the immediate vicinity of the large 
