STROBILANTHES . 697 



hard, brightly burning wood of the Strobilanthes is much appreciated, it is 

 possible to clear away the growth of it and not only allow of the young tree 

 seedlings getting a chance of growing, but provide a considerable amount of 

 fuel ample, at very cheap rates, to cover the whole cost of the work. In the 

 Lamb's Rock forest, 37 acres cleaned in 1886, at a cost of Rs. 222, produced 

 9,038 head-loads of fuel (about 323 tons), realizing at one anna each, Rs. 565, 

 equivalent to a net profit of Rs. 9-4-0 per acre. Something like nine-tenths 

 of the material cut consisted of Strobilanthes. The good results of this work 

 were most marked : myriads of seedlings were disengaged, and a few years 

 hence, with the help of a seed cutting or cutting under selection in the cover, 

 what was a few years ago merely a dilapidated shola with cover of old, mostly 

 unsound, trees and underwood of Strobilanthes, will be converted into a fully 

 stocked pole forest. It may easily be understood that the clearing of Strobi- 

 lanthes must precede the seed cutting or the cutting under selection (jardinage). 

 When the cover overhead in a forest is light, the bank of Strobilanthes under- 

 neath is often very valuable as assisting to retain the moisture in the soil, 

 prevent fires, and nurse the tree seedlings, and in some cases it is best not to 

 clear away the growth too wholesale, but to disengage seedlings in plots where 

 they are found sufficiently thick and good. An example of a shola in which 

 not only the Strobilanthes were cut, but also the covering trees some years 

 ago, may be seen in the valley at the back of the inspection house at Nadu- 

 vatam. There, the growth of new Strobilanthes and tree seedlings together is 

 so thick as to be at the disadvantage of the latter ; and, did funds admit, 

 the Strobilanthes should now be thinned out.' 



ORDER XLVI. VERBENACEAE 



The cliief importance of tliis order lies in the fact that it contains the 

 principal timber tree of India, and one of the most important in the world, 

 namely the teak, Tectona granclis, Linn, f . It contains also other trees of some 

 importance or interest {Gmelina, Vitex, Premna), as well as numerous shrubs 

 and several climbers. 



Genera 1. Tectona, Linn. f. ; 2. Gmelina, Linn. ; 3. Vitex, Linn. ; 4. 

 Premna, Linn. ; 5. Callicarpa, Linn. ; 6. Avicennia, Linn. ; 7. Lantana, Linn. 



1. TECTONA, Linn. f. 



Species 1. T. granclis, Linn. f. ; 2. T. Hamiltoniana, Wall. 



1. Tectona graiidis, Linn. f. Teak. Vern. Sdgun, Hind. ; Sdgwan, sag, 

 Mar. ; Tegu, tegina, Kan. ; Teku, Tel. ; Thekku, Tam., Mai. ; Kyun, Burm. 

 (Fig. 262.) 



A large deciduous tree with a rounded crown and, under favourable con- 

 ditions, a tall clean cylindrical bole, which is often buttressed at the base and 

 sometimes fluted. Branchlets quadrangular, channelled, with a large quad- 

 rangular pith. Leaves opposite, large, broadly elliptical or obovate, usually 

 1-2 ft. long, but often larger in coppice-shoots and young plants, rough above, 

 stellately grey tomentose beneath, with minute glandular dots, which are red 

 in young leaves, afterwards turning black. Bark, 0- 15-0-7 in. thick, grey or 

 light greyish brown, fibrous, with shallow longitudinal fissures, exfoliating in 

 long, thin, narrow somewhat corky flakes. 



Measurements of bark thickness in various localities in Bombay and the 

 Central Provinces showed averages of 0-15 to 0-4 in. for trees of small to 



