506 XXVI. RHIZOPHORACEAE 



branches commenced to form in the second season, and from the third season 

 onwards the branching was vigorous, with copious foHage. The following 

 characters apply to the young plant : 



Young stems bright green, somewhat flattened, with a longitudinal ridge 

 up the centre of each flat side ; nodes swollen. Leaves opposite, lanceolate, 

 finely serrulate, coriaceous, glabrous, shining, darker above than below, up 

 to 5-5 in. by 1-5 in, by the end of the second season ; petiole 0-2-0-4 in. long. 

 Young leaves very shiny, lighter green than the older ones, involute in the 

 bud, with small acuminate interpetiolar stipules between them which quickly 

 enlarge to 0'5-0-6 in. in length and fall, leaving well-marked brown scars 

 extending across the shoot from base to base of the petioles. 



The serrulate leaves of young plants are interesting. In the older plants 

 they are entire, or serrulate above the middle ; in the forest young trees up 

 to 6 or 7 ft. high or more have been noticed with all the leaves serrulate 

 throughout. 



SiLVicuLTURAL CHARACTERS. The tree is a shade-bearer. It coppices 

 well and reproduces freely from root-suckers, which are sometimes produced 

 in quantity on swampy ground. Frost does not ordinarily occur within its 

 habitat except in the extreme north ; in the abnormal frost of 1905 it suffered 

 severely in the Dehra Dun valley, where one tree was noticed to have been 

 killed right down, but next year it shot up vigorously from the base. It is 

 exacting as to soil, being found only on rich deep moist soil. 



Artificial reproduction. Experiments at Dehra Dun have shown that 

 owing to the large percentage of failure in the seed direct sowings cannot be 

 relied on. Transplanting, however, is easy. The seed should be so"mi quite 

 fresh in drills in fairly rich but porous soil about May-June, the beds being 

 kept well weeded and watered, and sheltered from the sun in hot weather. 

 The plants are ready for transplanting in the rainy season when two years old. 



This tree can also be grown successfully from cuttings, which should be 

 kept in the nursery and watered and shaded until well rooted. 



ORDER XXVII. COMBRETACEAE 



This order is one of great importance in Indian forestry, containing as it 

 does several trees of considerable economic as well as silvicultural importance 

 belonging to the genera Terminalia and Aiiogeissus. It also contains several 

 climbers or scrambling shrubs of the genera Coinhretum, Quisqvalis, and 

 Calycopteris. Of these Combretum decandrum, Roxb., conspicuous by the 

 large white bracts of the inflorescence, is a particularly noxious climber. It 

 is common in parts of the sub-Himalayan tract, for example on the hill slopes 

 round Kalsi on the Jumna, in Assam, Chittagong, Burma, Chota Nagpur, and 

 in parts of the Indian Peninsula. It forms dense masses, suppressing young 

 seedling and coppice growth and climbing into the crowns of trees. It is very 

 diflficult to deal with, as it grows rapidly and luxuriantly after cutting, and 

 reproduces freely from seed, quantities of young seedlings appearing in the 

 rainy season. 



Genera 1. Terminalia, Linn. ; 2. Anogeissus, Wall. ; 3. Lumnitzera, Willd. 



