1919. ] Notes on the Vegetation of Seistan. 269 
effluents of the Helmand, was not visited. Our account of 
the vegetation of Seistan must therefore be a partial one, and 
it must be further remembered that the collection was made 
‘in the depth of winter, when the temperature sank well below 
freezing-point almost every night. 
This latter point, however, is perhaps less important in 
Seistan than it would be in most countries, for the little rain 
that falls (slightly over 2} inches a year) commences to do so 
about the end of December, just after the period of our visit, 
and practically completes its tale by April. 
The agriculture of the country depends rather on the 
floods of the Helmand, due to rain and the melting of the snows 
pation of the showers. In the desert we found most of the 
larger plants, probably for this reason, in fruit, and a consider- 
able proportion still in flower. 
Botanical collections made in Seistan are of value as this 
locality has been seldom visited by Indian botanists. Bois- 
sier’s Flora Orientalis is perhaps the only important work 
that deals with the descriptive botany of the entire region lying 
west of India. The type of vegetation there is quite distinct 
the plants lies in the large number of Chenopodiaceae. The 
not be without some interest. The lists are arranged according 
to Engler and Prantl’s classification adopted in their Pflanzen- 
familien. There are altogether 25 families, 50 genera and 70 
species discussed. References have been added to Boissier’s 
work, Hooker’s Flora of British India and sometimes to 
Muschler’s Flora of Egypt. 
ABBREVIATIONS USED. 
Boiss. Fl. Or. _. Flora Orientalis by Edmond Boissier. 
D’C. Prodr. _, De Caudolle’s Prodromus Vegetabilis. 
Fl. Br. Ind. -. Flora of British India by Sir Joseph 
Hooker. 
Musch. Fl. Egypt .. Flora of Egypt by Dr. Reno Muschler. 
Il. THe VEGETATION OF THE Stony DESERT. 
The desert ! that surrounds Seistan to the south and west 
is composed of scanty soil full of black pebbles. It contains a 
1 For an account of the great desert of which it is a part see Vreden- 
burg, Mem. Geolg. Surv. India, Vol. XXXI. 
