514 



XXVII. COMBRETACEAE 



Rate of growth. The rate of growth is slow. The following measure- 

 ments of trees in sal forest sample plots have been recorded : 



Terminalia Chehula : records of girth measurements in sample plots. 



Gamble's specimens showed six to ten rings per inch of radius, representing 

 a mean annual girth increment of 0-63 to 1-05 in. 



Coppice measurements showed an average height of 8 ft. and 8-5 ft. in 

 five years in Dehra Dun and Gorakhpur respectively. 



3. Terminalia tomentosa, W. and A. Vern. Sain, ain, saj, asna, asan, 

 Hind. ; Matti, Kan. ; Sadada, Guz. ; Maddi, naUamaddi, Tel. ; Karra marda, 

 Tam. ; Taukkyan, Burm. 



A large deciduous tree with a long clean bole and a full crown. Bark 

 grey to black, with deep longitudinal fissures and transverse cracks dividing 

 it into oblong scales, red inside. Wood dark brown with darker streaks, 

 hard, strong, of variable durability, used for building, carts, railway wagons, 

 mine props, bedsteads, and other purposes : it lasts well under water. 



The thickness of the bark varies with size and other conditions : the 

 following figures give the average of a number of measurements made in the 

 Dehra Dun district : 



Girth of tree. 



0-6 in. 

 6in.-l 

 1-2 ft. 

 2-3 ft. 



ft. 



Bark thickness. 



in. 



0-2 



0-35 



0-5 



0-8 



Girth of tree, 

 ft. 



3^ 

 4-5 

 5-6 

 6-7 



Bark thickness, 

 in. 



10 

 11 

 11 

 1-2 



Apart from its economic value the tree is important silviculturally as being 

 one of the commonest of Indian forest trees and being suitable for afforesting 

 clayey ground. In favourable localities it attains a girth of 12 ft. or more 

 and a height of over 100 ft., but on dry rocky ground and other unfavom-able 

 situations it is stunted. 



It is somewhat variable, particularly as regards its leaves, which as a rule 

 are large and tomentose in less favourable localities and smaller and more 

 glabrous in localities in which it grows best. 



Distribution and habitat. General distribution. Terminalia tomentosa 



