HEAT AND DECIDUOUS TREES. 265 



a cooler region, will occasionally assume a deciduous 

 character but generally after a season or two the 

 plant perishes : it catches cold, and dies exactly like 

 a bird or animal exposed to the inclement influence 

 of a foreign climate. 



Returning, however, to the consideration of the teak 

 and other trees of special value which are habitants 

 of the Bush Region, we may remark that in the rainy 

 season, when the teak comes into leaf, it is surmounted 

 by a magnificent crown of large shining leaves, each 

 some 15 to 1 8 inches long, and masses of yellowish 

 white flowers, which render it one of the most majestic 

 and picturesque objects in the landscape ; while at the 

 same time it is one of the most valuable of all trees, 

 producing, according to Captain Forsyth 

 " perhaps the most generally useful timber in the world. 

 In combined lightness, elasticity, and endurance Che says) 

 there is none to compare to it : its uses cover a wider range 

 than those of any other timber, from the handle of an axe, 

 to the backing of an iron-clad." * 



But if the teak reigns supreme as the " Queen of 

 the Forest " in our Indian Empire, it is closely rivalled 

 both in beauty and utility by the mahogany tree 

 (Swietonia Mahogani) in the western hemisphere ; 

 which, though found growing in the equatorial forests 

 from about Lat. 10 N., only attains its finest pro- 

 portions further to the northward, where it is un- 

 doubtedly the most valuable and magnificent of all 

 timber trees in the tropical forests of the western 

 world. 



At one time immense forests of this noble tree ex- 



* The Highlands of Central India, by Captain J. Forsyth, New 

 Edit, of 1889, p. 31. 



