606 XXIX. LYTHRACEAE 



wards enlarging to 0-15-0-2 in. by 0-1 in., ovate, apex rounded, base obtuse 

 or sub-cordate, entire, delicate, green, later often turning dark red. Stem erect, 

 quadrangular, the corners winged by the decurrent leaf -bases, glabrous, green 

 with a pink tinge in first season ; internodes in first season 0-1-0 -5 in. long. 

 Leaves simple, alternate on main stem, opposite on side branches, sub-sessile 

 or with petioles up to 0-2 in. long, exstipulate, first two or three leaves often 

 small and abortive. Normal leaves 1-3 in. by 0-3-0-9 in. in first season, up 

 to 8 by 2 in. in second season, oblong lanceolate, acute or acuminate, base 

 elongated and decurrent down petiole and stem, decurrent wings expanding 

 abruptly on joining stem, entire, glabrous, dark green with petiole and decur- 

 rent wings often pink. 



After germination the young seedlings are extremely minute, almost 

 resembling green powder on the surface of the ground ; they are smaller even 

 than those of Adina cordifolia or Stephegyne parvifolia. The growi}h during 

 the first season is slow, a height of only 1 or 2 in. being attained by the end 

 of the year. During the second year the growth is more rapid, a height of 

 2 ft. or more being attained ; thereafter the growth is very rapid. Seedlings 

 raised at Dehra Dun proved to be very sensitive to drought and frost ; the 

 former is seldom and the latter never experienced within its habitat. The 

 seedhngs are somewhat subject to the attacks of insects, and in the forest 

 young plants are readily eaten by deer and cattle. Young saplings develop 

 characteristic long horizontally spreading branches at an early age. 



Natural reproduction. Natural seedlings spring up on newly exposed 

 ground such as landslips and river-banks, and appear to require for their 

 development an abundance of light and absence of drip from overhanging 

 trees. Complete drainage and loose but moist soil also appear to be necessary. 

 Natural reproduction comes up readily on banks of silt in the beds of 

 rivers. Mr. Gamble ^ describes the profusion with which natural seedlings 

 come up on the sites of old charcoal kilns in the Darjeeling tarai. The nearest 

 seed-bearers were at least half a mile distant, and the seed must have been 

 carried by wind. The sites of these charcoal kilns evidently offered ideal 

 conditions for the germination of the seed and the development of the seedlings, 

 which did not appear elsewhere in the neighbourhood, even on recently hoed 

 ground. 



Experiments at Dehra Dun showed that if seed is scattered soon after 

 ripening over fine earth or powdered charcoal in the open it is washed into 

 heaps by the early monsoon showers, and the minute seedlings appear in 

 groups, but are washed away in quantities during the rains. Only where the 

 drainage is perfect and the young plants grow vigorously enough to obtain 

 hold of the ground before being washed away, is it possible for any seedlings 

 to survive the first season. In the case of charcoal -covered ground it is 

 probable that the exceptional vigour induced by the porosity of the germinating 

 bed is the main cause of the survival of the young seedlings. 



Artificial reproduction. Direct sowings on bare hoed ground have 

 been carried out frequently in Bengal, and landslips are occasionally sown uj) 

 M'ith success. On the whole, however, sowings have proved a failure owing 

 chiefly to the liability of the young plants to be washed away during the first 

 season. 



1 Ind. Forester, iv (1878-9), p. 245. 



