OLEA 659 



Distribution and habitat. Indigenous in the western Himalaya, 

 ascending to 6,000 ft., from the Jumna westward, the Suhman and Salt Ranges, 

 hills to the west of Sind, Afghanistan, and Baluchistan. In the western 

 Himalaya it is somewhat local, occurring chiefly along the outer hills and in 

 the dry inner valleys. In the trans-Indus country, along the eastern flank 

 of the Suliman and other ranges, it is often abundant. In the Salt Range it 

 grows equally well on limestone, sandstone, shale, and marl. It is usually 

 more or less gregarious, and is very common on hilly ground, often associated 

 with Dodonaea viscosa, Acacia modesta, A. Catechu, Carissa spinarum, Rcptoiiia 

 biixifolia, and Pistacia integerrima ; in the Pinus longifolia forests it often 

 occurs on rocky ground on hot aspects. In the Kalachitta range of hills in the 

 Rawalpindi district it is abundant on limestone, favouring the valleys and the 

 northern slopes up to 1.500-2,000 ft., above which altitude it is gradually 

 replaced bj^ Dodonaea : on hot exposed situations with shallow soil it is less 

 plentiful, giving way to Acacia modesta. Except in a few places at the foot 

 of this range it does not extend into the plains. In Hazara it is common on 

 the limestone hills of the Khanpur range at 2,500 to 5,000 ft., associated with 

 Acacia modesta, Punica Granatum, Berberis Lycium, Pinus longifolia, and other 

 species ; in the Kagan valley it is found on hot hill-sides at 3,500-5,500 ft., 

 often with Fraxinus xanthoxyloides. It is often planted in gardens in the 

 plains of northern India. The tracts in which the tree grows wild are charac- 

 terized by great heat and long periods of drought in the hot season, with 

 a considerable degree of cold in the winter ; the rainfall for the most part 

 varies from 15 to 30 in. 



Leaf-shedding, flowering, and fruiting. The leaves are shed in 

 January-February and the new leaves appear before the old ones all fall. 

 The white flowers appear from March to September, according to locality and 

 elevation. The fruit, which ripens from September to December, is a black 

 ovoid drupe about 0-3-0-5 in. long with a bony endocarp. 



The seedling. The growth of the seedhng is very slow, an average 

 height of only about 3 in. per annum being the usual rate of growth during 

 the first three years. A long taproot is developed at an early stage. The 

 seedling iy sensitive to drought, and under natural conditions requires shade 

 and moderately good soil for its establishment. 



Silvicultural characters. The tree is a shade-bearer. It is browsed 

 by camels and goats ; browsed plants usually assume a dense shrubby form 

 with small leaves, from the centre of which a few long shoots with normal 

 leaves appear, which, if allowed, grow up into trees. Deer and wild sheep 

 (oorial), where present, also do damage by browsing, especially to coppice- 

 shoots. The tree is often lopped for fodder. It coppices well if cut in the 

 dry season, and produces root-suckers. Experiments carried out in the Punjab 

 in 1912 and 1913 showed that from August to October inclusive coppicing was 

 a failure, while from January to June inclusive it was very successful ; coppicing 

 in July gave moderately good results, while the results of fellings in November 

 and December were not conclusive when the observations were recorded.^ 



Natural reproduction. Mr. B. O. Coventry- has recorded some 



1 Pvmjab Forest Conference Proceedings, 1913 and 1914, 



2 Ind. Forester, xli (1915), p. 395. 



Y2 



