The Forests of the Philippines. 573 



system of agriculture. If fires are not started when the caingin 

 is abandoned, the woody species quickly gain the ascendancy and 

 shade out the little grass that has obtained a foothold. Here, as 

 in temperate regions, certain species of little value enter the 

 freshly deforested regions, giving rise to subtypes of forest known 

 under the Tagalog name of "calaanan," the Visayan name of 

 "late," and the Moro name of "boog." On freshly exposed soil, 

 the first stages of this reforestation process are remarkably similar 

 throughout the Islands. At first, the composition is very simple, 

 being made up principally of the following species : Hamindang 

 (Macaranga bicolor), binunga (Macaranga tanarius), hinlaumo 

 (Mallotus ricinoides), alim (MaJIotus moluccanus), and balanti 

 (Homalanthus populneus), all belonging to the Euphorbiaceae ; 

 anabion (Trema amhoinensis), belonging to the Ulmaceae; and 

 anilao (Columbia serratifolia), belonging to the Tiliaceae. For 

 small areas, sometimes one — sometimes another — of these trees 

 are found in almost pure stands. This is particularly true of 

 hamindang, binunga, anabion, and balanti. All these trees are 

 capable of producing seeds within a year or two after germi- 

 nation. Some are edible, and are thus quickly scattered by birds 

 and animals; others have fruits adapted to wind distribution. 

 Most of them mature early, are light loving, and are replaced by 

 a more complex stand, composed of shade enduring species. 

 Ultimately, these second-growth forests may re-develop into 

 forests whose composition is much Hke that originally destroyed. 

 In the natural re-forestation of the grass lands, another set of 

 species first gains entrance. In the high regions of central and 

 northern Luzon, the Benguet pine (Pinus insularis) is the pioneer 

 species. In the lowlands among those that first gain entrance are 

 binayuyu (Antidesma ghaesenibilla), alibangbang (Bauhinia mala- 

 barica), duhat (Eugenia janibolana) , acleng-parang (Albissia pro- 

 cera), and others. The first two of these are especially able to 

 resist the effect of fires, and thus can occur as scattered trees 

 through the grass lands. When fires are checked for several 

 years, these trees often form the centers for closed stands, and 

 eventually cover large areas. These sub-types become gradually 

 more and more complex, the rapidity of the process depending on 

 their distance from seed-bearing trees, and, of course, the com- 

 position varies according to the character of the species of the 



