great cultivated plain of the district teems with the usual plants of the Coromandel coast, finding place on the bunds separating the fields, in the hedges and waste places.chap. I. Flora.Small herbs such as Sphxranthus indicus, Oldenlandias, Bonnayas, Coldenia pocumbens, various species of Heliotropium, Aristolochia indica, Cleomes; hedge plants and climbers such as various species of Vitis, Dregea volubilis, Tragia involucrata, Modecca Wightiana, and such shrubby plants as have been able to resist the cultivator's efforts at clearing the original scrub forests. This flora of cultivation presents a great mass of diverse species, of great use to the amateur but of little interest to the explorer. Here may be met representatives of all the chief orders of Indian plants, a veritable botanical garden laid out for the study of the beginner.
The scrub jungle is, as usual, more interesting. We have a great collection of drought-resisting or xerophytic forms which have no end of contrivances by which they have adapted themselves to the severity of the climate and the scarcity of water. Broadly speaking, we may divide these into the dry and thorny plants with little leaf surface and much hard stem frequently covered with thorns, and the succulents where the whole plant surface has been reduced to a minimum and is filled with fleshy tissue with nauseous contents. A. double purpose is fulfilled by these characters, diminution of the evaporation of water and resistance to the onslaughts of the predatory goal. It is well to take note of these facts in botanical rambles, and special clothing is needed for collectors in these parts. The following plants may be looked for in the scrub jungle: low-growing specimens of Cassia Fistula with brilliant tresses of yellow flowers, thorny Acacias and dwarf Albizzias, and the closely allied Dichrostachys cinerea with its bright spikes of half -yellow, half-pink flowers, stunted trees of Ohloroxylon Swietenia (satinwood) with rough bark and delicate foliage, the sweet-scented Glycosmis pentaphylla, Maba huxifolia, Oapparis sepiaria,Plerobium indicum with beautiful white racemes and gaily painted fruits guarded, however, by wait-a-bit thorns, Asparagus racemosus, a typical 'bridal' plant with its finely divided 'leaves' and sprays of minute white flowers, Barleria Prionitis, Dodonxa viscosa Hibiscus micranthus, Wnltheria indica, Erythroxylan monorynum, Cassia auriculata, Randia dumetion. Less abundant are Gmelina arborea, Dalbergia, rubiginosa, Elrodendron glucom, Ochua squarrosa, Polyalthia cerasoides, Elytraria cronata, Olax scandens(parasitic on the roots of other trees), Diospyros montana, Aristolochia bracteala, and Streblus asper. Here and there may