— 86 — 



and if these are allowed to germinate, then the vegetation (if 

 such a word can be employed) becomes by degrees somewhat 

 denser and other species appear. First and foremost come 

 other switch-bushes: Calligonum, Salsola Arbuscula and sub- 

 aphylla, Eremosparton, Saxaul and sometimes Ephedra alata. 

 A desert covered with these shrubs is a most characteristic 

 sight; to describe it the following lines by Korshinsky 1. c. p. 4) 

 may be cited: 



"They are bushes or small trees, from 1 to 4 or 5 

 Arshins high (0,7 — 2,8 — 3,5 metres ^), very characteristic 

 both in their appearance and in their mode of growth. 

 Their stems as a rule are short, bent and often very irre- 

 gularly shaped on account of deep and long furrows. The 

 branches are generally white or greyish, the leaves narrow 

 and greenish-grey. Frequently there are no leaves at all, 

 and they are replaced by the young branches which 

 contain chlorophyll. Most of these ligneous plants grow 

 very slowly and have an exceedingly hard but brittle wood, 

 this is especially the case with Saxaul. These low trees 

 stand widely apart, they do not cast the least shade, so 

 that the soil under them is almost as dry and unfertile, 

 almost as scorched by the rays of the sun as if there 

 were no trees at all. 



No comparison is possible between this bushland and 

 forest or scrub in temperate areas, and on the whole none 

 of the expressions used in literature or science are adequate 

 to describe them. They form a special type of vegetation, 

 so unique and characteristic that I cannot believe it will 

 ever fade from the memory af any one who has had a 

 single opportunity of seeing it." 



Only two of the switch-like trees and bushes have a 

 luxuriant green appearance. They are Salsola Arbuscula and 

 S. subaphylla (figures 12 and 13), especially the former. This 

 plant has already been described (chap. 6) as frequent in dry 

 clay-deserts, where it is a dry, stiff, prickly bush about half 

 a metre high with shoit hard shoots and stiff plump leaves. 



^) This description deals witli vegetation on more stable soil wliere 

 tiie trees and bushes are lower. 0. P. 



