Some phytogeographic aspects of Rajasthan, India

Abstract

The literature on the demarcation line between the "Indo-Malayan" and the "Perso-Arabian" floras is reviewed and it is proposed to base the delimitation on the vegetation types. In the forests of teak or miscellaneous species generally located on the hills, the Indo-Malayan and the Indian elements predominate but in the thicket or scattered shrubby vegetation ofProsopis, Salvadora, Acacia, Capparis, Euphorbia of the sandy alluvial plains of North Gujarat and Rajasthan the western element is conspicuous. Geologically, Rajasthan west of the Aravallis possesses a mingling of the distinctive characters of the Peninsula and the extra-Peninsula and cannot be referred to as either. It is shown that plantgeography does not provide any evidence to consider the area as probably peninsular as suggested previously.