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PLANTS OF NORTHERN GUJARAT. 
Class 6. Litkopbytes. 
We have on the city walls at Ahmedabad a well recognizable but 
small association containing the followings— 
(a) Very common, and always present — 
Lindenbergia urticafolia , Linaria ramosissima , Eragrostis tenelia, 
Arthraxon microphgllus , Aristida adsenscionis , Andropogon 
contortus (small form). 
[b) Occasional — 
Acalypha indica, Alternanthera triandra, Launea pinnatifida. 
These plants are presumably lime-loving, and therefore find the plaster 
of the wall a favourable habitat. It is to be noted that the inside of these 
old Indian fortification walls is simply loose rubble, not masonry, so 
that wherever a crack is available the roots of plants have free play 
below the crust of the wgtlL It is noteworthy that Lindenbergia 
polyantha which scarcely differs from L. urticafolia except in its more 
stunted habit, is found with us on gravelly and sandy banks of Naliahs ; 
it would be interesting to attempt to cultivate both plants on the 
habitat characteristic of the other species, and ^hereby to ascertain 
whether the two species are truly distinct. 
The city walls at Ahmedabad are stronger and have been more 
recently repaired than those of Surat and Bassein, which would afford 
a better scope for study of the mural associations. 
Classes 7 and 10. Psammopiiytes and Psilophytes. 
We now come to the much more difficult task of classifying the 
ordinary dry land vegetation, which, as mentioned above amounts to 
about 95 per cent, of the whole. There can be little doubt that, 
generally speaking, our area comes into the Savannah Formation. 
Warming's description of true Savannah (loc, cit . page 295) exactly 
applies to those parts of the Indian plains which are untouched by the 
north-east monsoon or the winter storms. Warming writes, “ Savan- 
nah is associated with moderately rainy tropical places ; most closely 
allied to grass-steppe, it owes its distinction from this solely to the 
tropical climate. The vegetation has only one resting period— the dry 
season — during which it shows itself yellowish-grey and parched, 
though by no means devoid of flowers. The plants are endowed with 
xerophytic epigeous organs, and withstand this dry season, during which 
the Savannah is often devastated by fires.* The rainy season coincides 
* Fires only rarely occur in our area, and are not regularly recurring. 
