708 XLVI. VERBENACEAE 



trap formation, it forms as a rule a large percentage of the growing stock, 

 sometimes occurring jiractically pure over considerable areas. The rainfall 

 over most of the trap areas of Bombay varies from under 30 in. to about 

 70 in., but in the ghat regions of Thana and Nasik it is in places over 100 in. 

 Where the rainfall is small the growth is extremely poor, and reproduction is 

 largely from shoots sent up from stools and old thickened root-stocks ; here 

 the teak suffers periodically from drought. Even where the rainfall is heavy 

 the soil is often shallow and rocky and the trees do not reach large dimensions, 

 though occasionally in valleys and ravines where there is some depth of soil, 

 fair growth is attained. In the Dangs of Surat and the Khandesh Akrani teak 

 attains a larger size than in most parts of the trap area, but the larger trees 

 are usually unsound owing to past maltreatment. 



The companions of the teak in these forests are much the same as those 

 occurring in most of the Central Provinces teak forests, and include Terminalia 

 tomentosa, T. helerica, T. Ghebula, Lagerstroemia parvijiora, Adina cordifoUa, 

 jStephegyne parvifolia, Grewia tiliaefolia, Pterocarpus Marsupinin, Dalbergia 

 latifolia, Ougeinia dalbergioides, Phyllanthus Emblica, Cassia Fistula, Acacia 

 Catechu, Diospyros Melanoxylon, Butea frondosa, Bridelia retusa, Odina Wodier, 

 Soymida febrifuga, Erythrina suberosa, Schleichera trijuga (chiefly near water- 

 courses), and Boswellia serrata (in dry places). The bam.boos, where present, 

 are Dendrocalamus strictus and, on the more fertile ground or where the rainfall 

 is heavy, Baynbusa arundinacea. 



Southern Iiidia. The most important natural teak areas of southern 

 India are in North and South Malabar, particularly in the Wynaad, the 

 Anamalai hills, Coorg, the south-western part of Mysore, and Travancore, 

 that is, in the south-westerly part of the Peninsula. The rocks are for the 

 most part metamorphic (granite, gneiss, and schist), and the rainfall in the 

 best teak areas is chiefly between 60 and 150 in., but is more in places. Teak 

 here occurs in mixed deciduous forest ; the companion species are much the 

 same as those of North Kanara, and include Terminalia tomentosa, T. belerica, 

 T. paniculata, Dalbergia latifolia, Lagerstroemia lanceolata, Pterocarpus Mar- 

 supiuin, Grewia tiliaefolia, Schleichera trijuga, Anogeissus latifolia, Adina 

 cordifoUa, Stephegyne parvifolia, Stereospermum xylocarpum, Carey a arbor ea, 

 Bombax midabaricum, and Gmelina arborea. Xylia xyloearpa occurs below 

 the ghats, sometimes associated with teak. The chief bamboo is Batnhusa 

 arundinacea, with Dendrocalamus strictus on drier slopes. 



In Malabar teak flourishes and reaches large dimensions, both in the 

 Wynaad, at elevations of over 2,000 ft., with a rainfall of about 80 to 140 in. 

 and at lower elevations below the ghats, where the rainfall is heavier. The 

 Nilamhur valley of South Malabar is celebrated for its extensive and remark- 

 ably successful teak plantations, commenced in 1844 and continued to the 

 present day. In the Anamalais teak grows to a large size on fertile loam 

 resulting from the decomposition of gneiss. The teak forests are of a some- 

 wliat moist type, the chief associate species being those just mentioned, and 

 there is often a dense herbaceous undergrowth which prevents teak repro- 

 duction. 



The forests of Coorg fall into two main tracts the eastern forests, at an 

 ah,iiii(le of 2,(i00 to 4,488 ft., with a rainfall varying from 124 in. at Mercara 



