The flora of the Vizagapatam district may be taken as typical of the Northern Circars generally. It is not possible to separate it in its character from that of Ganjám on the north and Gódávari on the south. chap. I. Flora.1[1] Only in the possession of a great river and its irrigated delta is the latter district peculiar. In this region there is however a gradual transition from north to south, a gradual dying out of the northern forms as we proceed along the Eastern Gháts to their southern termination in the Gódávari gorges.
Comparatively little collecting has been done in the district. There are no records of its having been visited by any botanist of note in the past and we are dependent for exact details on a short collecting tour made through several taluks in the year 1900. Sufficient information was then got together for a brief statement on the flora and the following notes have been put together.
As in most parts of the Coromandel coast, in passing inland from the sea we meet with a series of well-defined geographical areas, and each of these has a different set of plants distinguishing it, while others are evenly distributed from the sea-side to the hills. The plains flora possesses little of interest, as it is practically the same for the greater part of the Madras coast. In it we can separate the sea-side flora, the salt-marsh plants and the dry scrub-jungle. Wherever cultivation exists, on the other hand, we have an assemblage of weeds, shrubs and climbers which may be met with from Tuticorin to Bengal, including a number of exotic plants introduced from various parts of the tropics.
On the sea coast we meet with the sandbinders such as Spinifex squarrosus, a thorny grass of great size, widely spreading over the beach, and whose ball-like flowering heads break off and roll before the wind, dropping their seeds in favourable spots; Ipomaea biloba, a 'convolvulus' with brightly-coloured, large, pink flowers, which sends out long streamers over the low sand hills; Launcea pinnatifida, a small plant with dandelion-like flowers, also a sandbinder with a complex network of branches,Spermacoce hispida, Lippia nodifiora, Hydrophylax maritima, Ipomaea tridentata and Phaseolus trilobus. The salt marshes may be searched for Suaeda nudiflora, Salicornia brachiata, Sesuvium Portulacastrum and other succulents. It is a curious fact that the plants growing in situations with abundant salt so frequently share this fleshy character with those of very dry regions. The- ↑ 1 This section has been kindly contributed by Mr. C. A. Barber, Government Botanist.
