232 
PLANTS OF NORTHERN GUJARAT. 
Swampy hollows, varying from a foot or two to several yards in 
diameter, are frequent on the plateau, and form, small tanks in the mon- 
soon in which Characeae are abundant and Oryza sativar and some 
Cyperaceae are prominent. As the water dries up, other vegetation 
appears, including some of the herbs mentioned above, and also a number 
of marsh loving plants ; we have noted the following :~~ 
Scsbania aculeata , Aeschy nomen e ivdica,' Melochia corchorifolia, 
Boppea dicfiotoma , Fimbristylis dichotoma i F. ferruginea , 
F, complanata, F. schoenoidex y Fleocharis atropurpuroa, 
Friocaulon trilobum, (the last two are much alike, and can 
scarcely be distinguished in the field ; we believe the last- 
named is much the less common of the two), Butomopsis 
lanceolata , Limnophila gratioloides, Ammannia multiflora , 
Bydrolea zeylanica , Andropogon sqtvarrosus, Scleria sp., 
Oryza sativa. 
The Savannah association described above has been named the 
Butea-Dichrostachys Thorn Savannah Association from its two 
most conspicuous members, and from the fact that a majority of the 
larger plants are thorny. After several months of drought Capparis 
aphylla and Zizyphus rotun difolia were noted as conspicuous, but from 
August to October these seem to occupy a more subordinate position 
than in most of the surrounding types of vegetation, where they are 
more or less ubiquitous. 
VI. Association of Savannah with tall Grasses. 
The tall grasses associated in wide grasslands are a conspicuous 
feature of North Gujarat. Locally, these- grasslands are known as 
“ birs ”, although this word is not carefully confined, as it should be, 
to grasses sufficiently tall for cutting. There are, of course, many square 
miles of grazing land occupied by the associations of sand wastes, and 
Butea Savannah, which are very useful fo^ grazing, but the true 
“ birs ”, which occur near Harsol and in the north of the Modasa 
Petha are particularly valuable. Two cuttings are made in an ordinary 
year, one towards the end of the monsoon, and one after the Divali, 
but in a year of light rainfall like 1915-16, only one cutting is 
possible. 
The principal herbaceous members of this association are as follows 
I$c hob mum rugosum , Andropogon Schoenanthus , A. foveolatus , A . 
annulatus , A. contortus } Apluda varia , Iseilema Wiglitii ■ 
Anthistiria ( Themeda\ ciliata. 
