HOLE : SOME INDIAN GRASSES AND THEIR CECOLOGY. 25 



Similarly in the case of Dicotylous Woodland deciduous and evergreen woodland Evergreen 



J J . i-iii and Deciduous 



must each be dealt with separately. Of the latter xerophilous, mesophilous and hygro- woodland, 

 philous forms certainly exist. 



It is probable that as our knowledge extends we shall have to deal separately in this 

 way with other types of vegetation consisting of plants with similar needs, as indicated 

 by close systematic relationship, or of plants which, although not closely related, have 

 adopted a similar mode of economy, as indicated by similar structural differences, habit of 

 growth, periodicity, and so on. 



25. It is believed that the attempt to utilise classification 

 the presence or absence of trees as a character to separate different types of grassland, 

 such as steppe from savannah, must result in a purely artificial classification. There are 

 very few regions of the earth where grasses grow where some kind of woody plants cannot 

 exist and it is believed that the presence or absence of trees or shrubs in grassland is 

 usually, as it were, an accident, due to a peculiar combination of local conditions which 

 may, or may not, exist in what is obviously one and the same type of grassland. There is 

 no doubt that steppe can be produced directly from savannah and even from forest by 

 artificial means and on the other hand it is certain that trees may and often do occur in 

 typical meadow. 



Areas of precisely the same type of grassland, e.g. composed chiefly of Saccharum 

 Munja, or of Saccharum Narenga, may be found sometimes with, and sometimes without, 

 scattered trees, according as the local conditions of frost, facilities for seed distribution 

 and so on are, or are not, favourable for the establishment of the parallel type of woodland. 



Warming considers the meadow as a type of his mesophilous grassland while reed- 

 swamp and savannah are respectively dealt with as hydrophilous and xerophilous forms 

 and are placed by him accordingly in inferior classes. When we consider the gigantic 

 dimensions of the constituent plants and the dense stocking of areas carrying reed-swamp 

 and wet-savannah, it is impossible not to regard, these as far more highly developed cecolo- 

 gical types than the typical meadow. It must also be noted that the peculiar close carpet 

 formed by the vegetation and the moderate dimensions attained by the constituent species 

 (usually not over 3 feet) in what is usually termed meadow is, sometimes at least, an arti- 

 ficial character resulting from grass-cutting, firing or grazing. Any of these agencies can 

 seriously retard and influence the development of grasses. They frequently for instance 

 do not permit the culms to attain their full dimensions and less height growth consequently 

 results; the ground in the immediate neighbourhood of the plants is thus less shaded and 

 more culms are therefore able to develop and occupy the spaces between the individual 

 plants, a close sward being produced in consequence. On the other hand, however, meadow 

 does undoubtedly often owe its characteristics to the peculiarities of the constituent species 

 and in India it may arise as the result of a regressive succession, such as occurs for instance 

 when the firing of moist Saccharum Narenga savannah so dries the loamy soil as to make 



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