86 



The Sand-binding Plants 



[NO. 1, NEW SERIES, 



companying figure will illustrate the way in which hillocks are 

 formed by the constant encroachment of sand. 



This figure is intended to represent sand-hills placed perpendi- 

 cularly to the direction of the prevailing winds. The wind 

 pushes the sand from the bottom a to the top 3, it then falls in the 

 direction be. A hillock therefore will always increase if fresh 

 sand is supplied in front, or be removed, if the sand be kept conti- 

 nually in motion. 



Sandy and irregularly irrigated soil can only produce shrubby 

 and herbaceous plants ; it's vegetation, suspended during the dry- 

 season, revivifies during the rains, and covers with a transitory car- 

 pet of verdure, the earth which appears naked and sterile during 

 the rest of the year. 



The drifting in of great masses of sand is, I understand, one of 

 the greatest obstacles to the perfect success of the Eastern Coast 

 Canal, now in progress near Madras. The drift occurs from both 

 sides, but chiefly from the sea. 



Along Canals, in which the level of the water Is nearly con- 

 stant, the banks at different heights are in different conditions of 

 moisture and frequently also of soil : so we see certain species of 

 Grasses, Bulrushes, &c. placed above each other in regular narrow 

 parallel bands forming a kind of girdle, beyond which the soil be- 

 comes too dry on one side, and too wet on the other, for them to 

 prosper. 



1. Spinifex squarrosas, Linn, the species known to Europeans 

 by the designation of " Ground Rattan"^ comes nearest to the Sand 

 Carex of England in its habit of growth, creeping along horizontally 

 sometimes above, sometimes below the surface of the earth, emitting 

 roots and shoots at short intervals of a few inches. It likewise pos- 

 sesses the advantage of being extremely tenacious of life; the shoot 

 at every node is capable of renewing the existence of the individual 



* Also called " Sea Pink," these names are both popular misnomers, the correct 

 designation is " Spinifex" of Botanists. The Tamil name, Ravanen mise, i- e. 

 "Wickers of Ilavanah, is a descriptive epithet. 



