HOLE : SOME INDIAN GRASSES AND THEIR CECOLOGV. 99 



on the quantity of dead dry leaves on the culm and this to some extent depends on the mois- 

 ture in the soil; where sufficient moisture is available, vegetative activity is prolonged and 

 the leaves persist and remain green well into December, while in drier localities they dry 

 off in November. The period of activity also to some extent depends on the nature of the 

 soil, as does the damage done by fire. The plant occurs both on sandy and loamy soil, the 

 former dries more rapidly than the latter which results in shortening the period of vegeta- 

 tive activity and increasing the number of dead inflammable leaves, while at the same time 

 there is more danger of the fire penetrating below the ground surface. Thus, as a general 

 rule, the drier the locality and the later the fire occurs in the season, the more serious is the 

 damage. An early fire frequently does very little damage and prolific flowering may often 

 be seen in May on areas burnt early in the season. 



The following facts all tend to reduce damage done by fire to this species : — 



(1) It is usually found on clayey soil which retains moisture tenaciously and conducts 



heat badly. 



(2) The stolons and their growing points from which the aerial culms arise, are 



usually situated at a considerable depth below the ground surface. 



(3) During the season when the grasslands are usually burnt, there are a very few, 



old, dry and inflammable, flowering culms. 



(4) The aerial culms are scattered and at considerable distances apart, instead of 



being aggregated in tufts, so that the quantity of inflammable material and 

 consequently the intensity of the fire at any one point is small. 



(5) One or more buds are usually developed from the basal nodes of the aerial culms, 



or from the nodes of the stolon below it, which as a rule escape being damaged 

 by fire. These develop into aerial culms and are thus able to replace any culm 

 which is destroyed. 



On the whole, therefore, the damage done by fires to this plant is slight and fire-damage 

 alone is not likely to be sufficiently severe to cause the destruction of the species. 



78. The young shoots and leaves of this plant utility as 

 undoubtedly provide good fodder, but the mature leaves of a normally developed culm are i^ Trea * 

 too coarse to be relished by cattle. If sirhu areas which have been allowed to develop with- SSr°Pro. 

 out interference during the rains are fired in the cold season, or beginning of the hot duction - 

 weather, a number of young leafy aerial culms soon make their appearance, while the des- 

 truction of the old dry leaves exposes clearly to view the young inner green leaves of the 

 older culms as they develop from the uninjured apical buds. These young shoots are 

 usually appreciated by cattle. It must be noted that when the upper green portion of a 

 young culm is bitten off by a grazing animal the result is not to damage the low-seated apex 

 of the culm itself, but only to more or less completely destroy the upper portion of the 

 leaves, the outer, more fully developed leaves being most injured, their basal portions often 

 alone escaping, while the inner and upper immature leaves are progressively less and less 



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