1863.] On the Flora of Behar and the mountain Parasnath. 191 
or prostrate Zragia are mingled with stunted semi-spontaneous 
plants of Borassus flabelliformis and Phenia« sylvestris. 
A short distance beyond the Barakur river, the Grand Trunk 
Road enters the low jungle which covers a great portion of Behar. 
Grislea tomentosa, Roxb. Butea frondosa, Roxb. Diospyros tomentosa, 
Roxb. Carissa Carandas, Linn. Sponia orientalis, Baliospermum poly- 
andrum, Wight. and Breidelia spinosa, Willd. are the most preva- 
lent species in the lower jungle. Where the hills approach the road, 
as at Gyra, trees of Vatica robusta W. and A. Cochlospermum Grossy- 
pum D. C. Soymida febrifuga, Juss. Terminalia, Bassia and Symplo- 
cos give a more arborescent character to the vegetation, In the 
cold season, about November, the slopes of the low hills near Gyra 
and Topechancee are whitened by the pale floral leaves of Jchnocar- 
pus frutescens, R. Br. a climbing plant belonging to the natural or- 
der Apocynacee. During the cold season, the partially dried-up rice- 
fields yield a rich harvest of rare and peculiar plants among which 
may be mentioned as most characteristic, five species of Ammannia, 
Ameletia Indica, three species of Utricularia, and Burmannia. 
Parasnath rises somewhat abruptly from the plain of Behar to the 
height of 4,500 feet above the sea. The mass of the mountain is 
not extensive, but judging from the character of the vegetation on 
its slopes, the mountain must exert a considerable influence on the 
amount of moisture in the atmosphere. Accordingly, many species 
of plants are confined to the mountain and its immediate vicinity 
probably from their inability to withstand the hot dry climate of the 
plains and lower hills. The influence of the mountain is shown 
around the base by the disappearance of the low jungle, its place 
being taken by large trees of Dillenia speciosa and D. pentagyna, 
Saccopetalwm tomentosum, Sterculia wrens, Terminalia, 2 Myrtaceae, 
Vatica robusta, Rubiacee among which, the most conspicuous are 
Nauclea parviflora and N. cordifolia. 
A few species of Ampelidee, Convolvulacee, especially Porana 
paniculata and Erycibe paniculata, with Ichnocarpus frutescens among 
Apocynacee, represent the gigantic climbers of the moist forests of 
other parts of India. As the sides of the mountain are approached, 
the forest becomes denser, the trees larger, and the number of species 
more abundant than around the base, TZerebinthacee and Legumi- 
noseé are by far the commonest orders, and of the latter the genera 
2B 2 
