26 



INDIAN FOREST MEMOIRS. 



Suggested 

 Scheme of 

 {Ecological 

 Classification 

 for India. 



the vigorous development of this species impossible and its place is taken by smaller species 

 such as Andropogon intermedins, Pollinia sp. and others. 



For the present it seems advisable to disregard the presence or absence of scattered 

 trees as an important character and to classify grasslands, provisionally, on the basis of the 

 density of stocking combined with a consideration of the dimensions attained by the consti- 

 tuent plants. Disregarding for the present reed-swamp, savannah would cover the more 

 strongly mesophilous and all the hygrophilous grasslands, meadow might be retained for 

 the less strongly mesophilous grasslands and steppe for all xerophilous grasslands. 



So far as domestic animals are concerned, grassland consisting of xerophilous, or the less 

 marked mesophilous, species, as a rule produces the best fodder, hygrophilous fodder being 

 what is usually described as too coarse or rank to be palatable except to such animals as 

 buffaloes. At the same time the less vigorous and the younger the culms and foliage of 

 coarse species, the more palatable as a rule the fodder and hence, firing, which decreases 

 the vigour of the plants and lays bare to the attack of animals the young shoots and leaves 

 as they appear, by depriving these of the protection afforded by the dead leaves and culms, 

 is an expedient which has been resorted to by man from time immemorial to improve the 

 fodder yield of coarse mesophilous and hygrophilous species. 



26. Based on the above ideas, the following 

 is suggested as a purely tentative and provisional scheme of cecological classification adapted 

 to the vegetation of India which will give some idea of the limits between which the 

 different types of vegetation vary and of the class of vegetation which may be taken as 

 fairly typical of the main groups. As noted above, it is obviously impossible at present, 

 in the absence of definite data regarding the weight of organic material produced per unit 

 of area, to draw a definite line between the various groups, or to define the latter correctly. 

 It is believed, however, that the scheme will facilitate the work of compiling and arranging 

 the descriptions of the various existing plant-communities, without causing confusion by 

 attempting to introduce too much detail; that it will in fact facilitate the collection of 

 further information and data which are essential before a sound classification can be 

 evolved. 



Type of Vegetation. 



I.— Aquatic or Hydrophilous 

 II.— Terrestrial— 



A. Xerophilous . 



Types of Communities. 



Communities of Aquatic Plants. 



Grassland ( = Steppe). — This is either ephemeral with meso- 

 philous structure and adaptations, or more persistent with 

 xerophilous adaptations. Examples of the former are the 

 poor grasslands constituted chiefly of ephemeral species of 

 Eragrostis common on soil-less places, or in deserts. This 

 type gradually passes through grasslands of such species 

 as Andropogon monticola and A. contortns into meadow. 



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