PLANTS OF NORTHERN GUJARAT . 
241 
PART III. 
FLORA. 
I N the following 1 list of plants from our area we have included all 
indigenous plants collected by us, and all aliens which seem to us to be 
well established and likely to remain so. We have not included garden 
plants, not found as escapes, nor trees found exclusively in compounds, 
but garden weeds are included as well as road-side trees, although the 
latter are, of course, usually planted. We have not distinguished by 
differences of type between species regarded by us as truly indigenous 
and species regarded by us as introduced, but it will always be apparent 
from the notes on habitat and distribution.* The decision as to the 
point at which a species may be regarded as so well established as to 
take rank as a member of the local flora is always difficult, and probably 
no two workers would agree in the case of all species. 
A word is necessary as regards the flowering and fruiting periods 
given. These are by no means exhaustive and could doubtless be consi- 
derably extended in many cases. Of non-aquatic plants in our area 
there are for the most part three types of flowering period, viz. : — mid- 
monsoon, post-monsoon, and pre-monsoon (mainly trees). But there are 
plants which do not even fit into any of these. Moreover, if a rare 
plant were found in flower, say, in late February or early Ma^ch, it 
would be difficult to decide whether it was a late-flowering individual of 
the post-monsoon type or an early-flowering individual of the pre-mon- 
soon type. We have, therefore, almost invariably restricted the notes on 
flowering and fruiting to months in which we have actually observed 
those phenomena. In a few cases, however, where a species has been 
found in flower in, say, August, October, December and January, we 
have not hesitated to draw the conclusion that its flowering period is 
continuous between the first and last of those months, and have, therefore, 
entered August- January. Since there is no reason to believe that any 
plants in our area have two distinct flowering periods, as is the case in 
some parts of the world, the conclusion seems justified*, The difficulty 
of ascertaining flowering periods was considerably enhanced this last 
season (1915; by the abnormal character of the monsoon, which appeared to 
♦ See Part I, Sec. 7. 
