lv_> 



OUTLINE OF PLANT GEOGRAPHY 



and over 460 smaller root-trunks, while the crown was 938 feet in 

 circumference. 



The vegetation about Calcutta is luxuriant, including several 

 species of palms, screw-pines, bamboos, bananas, and many other 

 characteristic tropical growths. The graceful betel-nut (Areca 

 Catechu) and the coco-palm are extensively planted, as well as 

 the native toddy-palm (Borassus flabelliformis) , with great fan- 

 leaves. The wild date-palm {Phoenix sylvestris) is very common, 

 as it is elsewhere in India. 



Besides the banyan, another species of Ficus is common in 



Fig. 54. — Banyan (Ficus Bengalensis) , Botanical Gardens, Calcutta. 



India, the "Pipul" (F. religiosa), with heart-shaped leaves sug- 

 gesting a cotton-wood poplar. 



Approaching Calcutta from the sea one sails up the Hugli River 

 through the swamp region known as the "sunderbans." 



The mangrove swamps of the Indo-Malayan regions are much 

 like those of East Africa, but developed on a much more extensive 

 scale, and with a greater number of species. As in Africa the out- 

 side is composed of Rhizophora mucronata, the predominant species 

 throughout the Malayan and Australasian regions. Other man- 

 groves occupy the inner portion of the swamp, e. g., Brughiera 

 spp., Avicennia officinalis, and a number of other characteristic 

 genera, e. g., Sonneratia, Acanthus, Carapa, and the Nipa-palm. 1 



1 Schimper, A. F. W., Plant-geography, p. 395. 



