231 
PLANTS OF NORTHERN GUJARAT. 
(it) Shrubs:— -Of shrubs Bichrostacbys cinerea is the most frequent, 
and is very noticeable from its numerous racemes of 
multicoloured flowers, while Mimosa hamata, Grewia 
villosa, Caspar is aphylla and Zizypkus rotund if olia are also 
not uncommon, and JVeptunia triquetra is rather rare. 
Thus a considerable proportion of the larger plants of the association 
are leguminous, and of these all but one belong to Mimosca. 
(Hi) Climbers : — Trailing in the undergrowth and climbing over 
the trees and shrubs are several twiners, of which the most 
abundant is Cocculus villosus, while Penlatropis microphylla 
is also quite common and Bkynchosia minima, Morsdenia 
volubilis and various species of Ipomcca (I. dissecta , I. 
calycina, I . obsctira and I. hederacea) are less frequent. 
(iv) Herbs 
(a) Of the herbaceous plants, Grasses predominate, the follow* 
ing being the more common species : — 
Bigitaria pedicillaris, T). Boyleana , B. longiflora , Manis - 
utis granularis, Andropogon confortus (small form), 
Iseilema laxum, Aristida funiculata i Bragrostis b if aria, 
B. pilosa (small form). 
The first four of these, which, in the rest of our area, either do not 
occur at all or are quite unusual, here form an important intra-asso- 
ciation (if we may use the term) over large parts of the plateau, and 
are so intermingled that almost any handful of grasses gathered at 
random will contain all four species. 
(b) Among the grasses are a considerable variety of Herba- 
ceous Dicotyledons, none of which, however, are in any 
sense dominant, the majority being only occasional, and 
some occurring very sparingly. The following list is 
arranged approximately in the order of frequency in which 
the plants appear to occur : — 
lepidagathis trinervis , Blepharis moiluginifolia , Glossocardia 
linearifolia , (these three are especially abundant on the 
rocky edges of the plateau, and are much less common in its 
central part), Phyllanthus maderaspatensis , Crotaiaria 
linifolia , Hibiscus esculentus , H. punctatus , Poly gala 
€i ioptera, Lcucas stricta , V olutarclla divaricata , Alystcar m 
pus bupleurifolius, Ionidium fieteropkyllum , Sesamum indi - 
cum, Hibiscus micranthus, Crotaiaria orixensis , In dig of era 
trita , Cleome simplicifolia, Indig of era glandulosa, Poly go l a 
ckinensis. Finally, Striga euphrasioides is a common root 
parasite on many of the grasses. 
