196 OUTLINE OF PLANT GEOGRAPHY 



A common and beautiful palm of this region, and indeed every- 

 where throughout the Malayan tropics is Areca Catechu which 

 produces the "bet el-nut," which mixed with lime and the leaf of 

 the betel-pepper, furnishes the Malayan equivalent for chewing 

 gum. The Areea-palm is one of the most beautiful of the palm 

 tribe, its perfectly smooth, slender shaft bearing aloft a plume of 

 graceful feathery leaves. 



Where the delta lands have not been cleared and drained, they 

 comprise a labyrinth of swamps and low jungle like the sunder- 

 buns of the Ganges delta, on the opposite side of the Bay of 

 Bengal. 



As one travels northward, through the valley of the Irrawaddy, 

 the country becomes much drier, and above Mandalay the coun- 

 t ry is largely a dry savanna, open grass-land, and scattered deciduous 

 trees, recalling the bush-veldt of South Africa. Where the forest 

 is better developed, the trees are mainly deciduous, and in places, 

 teak forests of considerable extent occur, and the timber is of 

 great commercial importance. 



While the valleys show evidences of a marked dry season, the 

 higher mountains have a heavier, and more uniform rainfall and 

 especially in the gorges cut by the rivers, there is a typical rain- 

 forest with a profusion of beautiful trees, shrubs and herbaceous 

 plants. Upper Burma is especially rich in orchids, many of w r hich, 

 like the exquisite blue Vanda coerulea are greatly prized in cultiva- 

 tion. 



Siam and Annam, on account of the mountains lying between 

 them and the Bay of Bengal, lose much of the benefit of the 

 southwest monsoon rains, and on the whole are much drier 

 than Burma, as the northeast moonsoon brings much less rain 

 than the southwest. 



Much of the lower country is open savanna, and the forests, 

 even in the hill-country are much less luxuriant than those of 

 the coastal region and mountains of Burma. 



While the greater part of the Indo-Chinese peninsula has a 

 pronounced monsoon climate, the long extension southward, 

 the Malay Peninsula, reaches the equatorial zone, and the wet 

 and dry seasons are much less marked. 



Somewhere in Indo-China, may have been the birthplace 

 of the human race. The discovery of the famous Ape-man 



