MINBU IN UPPER BURMA. 
13 
profusion. No doubt its poisonous properties efficiently protect it. 
The herbaceous vegetation is scanty in the extreme and is made up 
mainly of such unattractive carpeting as Solarium xanthocarpum r 
Tribulus terrestris , Martynia diandra y Boerhaavia repanda t JErua 
javanica , Achyranthes asper a, Polygonum plebejum , etc. Trees are 
very few. At Gwingyin isolated individuals of Acacia leucophloea 
and Albizzia Lebbek stood out from the desert of dusty grey scrub, 
the former conspicuous by its bright green foliage and the only thing 
pleasant to look upon amidst the dreary vegetation and intolerable 
glare, [the latter leafless and laden with dry pods which rattled 
against each other in the breeze like pagoda bells. Indeed it does 
not seem improbable that the rattling of these pods in the breeze 
may have suggested the idea of the bells. The broken hilly ground 
to the westwards and near Minbu itself supports the same kind of 
vegetation as has just been described ^s prevailing at Gwingyin, 
but much more sparsely, so that the hills have a general aspect of 
utter sterility. On the soil cast out from the mud-vulcanoes near 
Minbu town not a vestige of vegetation is to be seen. There is a 
complete absence in the desert zone of the toddy and coco-nut palms, 
as well as of the other trees commonly found about villages in the 
alluvial belt and irrigated areas. The only palm found in the desert 
zone was a variety of Phoenix humilis. The Tamarind is planted 
near the few villages found in this zone and a species of Cereus i s 
grown as a hedge, reaching a height of fifteen feet or more. The 
vegetation of the desert zone appears to resemble in general aspect, 
if not in detail, the vegetation of Eastern Rajputana as described by 
Sir George King. Most of the genera described by him as occurring 
in Eastern Rajputana also occur in the Minbu desert zone. Many of 
the species are identical for the two districts so wide apart, and where 
the species are not identical they are representative of each other. 
In the Mon valley between the Nwamadaung hills and the 
Arracan Yomahs there is a mixed sort of vegetation partaking of 
the characters of the desert zone and of the alluvial belt. A prickly 
scrub with Zizyphus Jujuba for its chief constituent predominates, 
but the herbaceous vegetation is more like that of the alluvial belt 
and the toddy and coco-nut palms reappear in abundance. 
Along the shores of the Sab'n and Paunglin lakes abound such 
species as Jussiaea repens , J. suffruticosa, lpomcea aquatica , Her- 
pestis Monniera y Polygonum stagninum. Fringing the margin are 
found Cyperus radiatus y jf uncellus alopecuroides , Scirpus arti - 
cuialus y Cyperus platystylu y Bootiia cordata y M onochoria hasteefolia 
Typha elephantina y Limnojhyton obtusi folium. Within and mixed 
