ACACIA 449 



tracts the kliair is frequently mixed with a variety of deciduous species, such 

 as Dalbergia Sissoo, Bornbax malabaricum, Garuga pinnata, Odina Wodier, 

 Ehretia laevis, Phyllanthus Emhlica, Zizyphus Jujuba, Bauhinia racemosa, 

 Holarrhena antidyseiiterica, and others. On drier and poorer ground it is stunted, 

 but survives under conditions which are unfavourable to the existence of 

 almost every other species. Striking examples of its hardiness occur in certain 

 parts of the submontane mixed forests of the Gonda district in the United 

 Provinces, on undulating ground intersected by ravines ; the soil, besides 

 being very poor, is subject to erosion, which is hastened by grazing, and 

 the roots of the trees are in consequence much exposed, as shown in 

 Fig. 172. In the poorest parts of these tracts Acacia Catechu occurs pure, 

 nothing else being capable of growing, but where the soil is somewhat more 

 favourable it is associated with stunted specimens of Diospyros tomentosa, 

 Anogeissus latifolia, Buchanania latijolia, and Nyctanthes Arbor-tristis. The 

 soil, which is excessively poor, is a reddish clay with calcareous nodular 

 pebbles. 



West of the Jumna the riverain type of khair forest is scarce, being 

 confined to a few localities, for example in parts of the Kangra valley, but the 

 tree is common on the dry foot-hills, often associated with A, modesta, and 

 extends in some places into the region of Pinus longifolia. 



In the sub-Himalayan tract Acacia Catechu occurs in localities where the 

 normal rainfall varies from 25 to 180 in. 



hidian Peninsula. The tree is common throughout the greater part of 

 the Indian Peninsula in dry types of mixed forest on a variety of geological 

 formations and soils. 



In the Central Provinces and elsewhere it occurs in open grass-lands, and 

 in teak forest of a dry type as well as in forest devoid of teak, its commoner 

 associates being Terminalia toinentosa, T. Chebula, Lagerstroemia parviflora, 

 Anogeissus latifolia, Diospyros Melanoxylon, Ougeinia dalbergioides, Buchanania 

 latifolia, Zizyphus Jujuba, Z. Xylopyrus, Aegle Marmelos, Odina Wodier, Butea 

 frondosa, Acacia leucophloea, Cochlospermum Gossypium, Holarrhena anti- 

 dysenterica, Phyllanthus Emblica, Chloroxylon Sivietenia, Soymida febrifuga, 

 Cleistanthus collinus, Gardenia latifolia, G. lucida, and other trees, as well as 

 the bamboo Dendrocalamus strictus. On dry hills it is found with Boswellia 

 serrata and Sterculia urens, in places where the soil is poor and shallow, with 

 sheet rock cropping out. It is also found associated with Hardwickia binata 

 on trap or on gravelly soil. In the Central Provinces it is one of the commonest 

 species in a poor stunted type of forest where the soil has an excess of calcareous 

 nodules on the surface, its chief associates here being Chloroxylon Swietenia, 

 Soymida febrifuga, Diospyros Melanoxylon, Buchanania latifolia, and Ter- 

 minalia tomentosa. 



In Bombay it occurs in Guzerat, the Deccan, and the South Mahratta 

 country in dry open thorn forests. It is associated with many of the species 

 already named as well as with Prosopis spicigera and sometimes Acacia arabica ; 

 here also it forms poor stunted types of forest on dry calcareous or murra7v 

 soil. Talbot says that it ascends to 3,700 ft. in the Khandesh Akrani, and that 

 it occurs nearly pure in larger or smaller patches on the low level laterite 

 near the sea-coast in North Kanara and the Konkan. In the Dangs of Surat 



2307.2 T 



