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Comparative Studies on the Ecology of some 



Chenopodiaceous Plants collected in 



North Africa and China. 



By 



Tokutaro Ito. 



It is well-known that some peculiar forms frequently occur among 

 plants growing in arid and in littoral districts by modifying their structure 

 so as to adapt themselves to their external conditions. These peculiarities 

 vary in a greater or less degree with the differences in the environment 

 of plants whose range extends far and wide. A comparison of these 

 peculiarities among the plants growing in remote regions, therefore, would 

 prove interesting in determining how much the influence of environment 

 on plant-bodies affects. 



During a short visit in the autumn of 1887 to Pompey's Pillar in 

 Alexandria, Upper Egypt, I collected in the vicinity of that wonderful 

 monument, some specimens of a Chenopodiaceous plant, Salsola Kali, 

 whose habits attracted my attention by its highly peculiar adaptation to 

 the desolate, sandy locality where I found it very common. These specimens 

 were carefully preserved by me for future examination. 



Among collections of Chinese plants made by my sister, Yoshi Ito 

 (now Mrs. Takagaki), I was delighted some time ago to find a beautiful 

 specimen of Salsola, which exhibited the same habits I had observed in the 

 North African plant more than a decade ago. The Chinese specimen, 

 which on further examination proved to be a closely allied species, Salsola 

 collina, was collected in September 1897 on the coast of Chefoo in North 

 China. 



That the existence of great similarity in habits between plants 

 growing under different conditions in such remote regions as the arid 

 district of North Africa and the coast of China is so remarkable that 

 I now attempt to make a comparative study on the ecology of these 

 plants. 



First, let us examine the African specimens. The entire plant, owing 

 to its intense hairiness and some organic change or difference in the 

 chlorophyll, exhibits a gray colour, apparently rendering it capable of with- 



