772 XLVI. VERBENACEAE 



SiLVicuLTURAL CHARACTERS. The tree is a light -demander, though it 

 stands rather more shade than the teak. It is moderately frost-hardy, and has 

 good power of recovery when injured by frost. It does not stand excessive 

 drought, as is shown in the case of plantations in the Panch Mahals, Bombay, 

 on dry soil with a considerable proportion of sand, where the trees have in 

 many cases either died outright or have died back and kept aUve only in 

 stunted bushy form. In Lahore Cantonment, however, it grows without 

 irrigation, which not many trees are capable of doing. 



It coppices very well, the coppice-shoots growing vigorously. It has not 

 been observed to produce root-suckers to any extent, but Mr. R. N. Parker 

 mentions that they have been produced by a tree in the Changa Manga planta- 

 tion. SapKngs are readily browsed by deer, which do much damage in young 

 plantations. Cattle also browse young plants if there is an insufficiency of 

 other fodder. 



Natural reproduction. Under natural conditions germination takes 

 place in the rainy season soon after the fall of the fruits. If the fruits are eaten 

 by deer or cattle the stones are rejected during rumination ; otherwise the 

 fleshy portion soon either roots off, or is softened and washed off by rain, or is 

 eaten away by insects, leaving the stone exposed. Numerous experiments 

 have been carried out at Dehra Dun to ascertain the factors influencing natural 

 reproduction, and the chief of these have been established with tolerable 

 certainty. It is clear that, as in the case of teak, a considerable amount of 

 alternating heat and moisture is necessary to stimulate germination, for which 

 reason fruit-stones lying in shade which is at all heavy fail to germinate for 

 want of the sun's heat. Secondly, it is of great importance that the stones 

 should become buried to some extent, otherwise there is a strong risk of failure 

 to germinate. This was confirmed many times, the seed on very rare occasions 

 succeeding in germinating if lying on the surface of the ground ; want of 

 sufficiently continuous moisture appears to be the explanation of this. In 

 the few cases in which germination did take place under these conditions the 

 young seedling was usually washed away by rain before it obtained a foothold. 

 Thirdly, clear ground forms a favourable germinating bed, particularly if it 

 has been broken up so that the seed has a chance of becoming buried ; seed 

 lying among weeds or grass usually fails to germinate. In this connexion it 

 may be noted that plentiful natural reproduction has been observed on aban- 

 doned taungya lands (temporary cultivation) in Burma. 



In the forest natural reproduction is not as a rule plentiful, and as the 

 germinative power of the seed is high the only explanation is that a com- 

 bination of favourable conditions is not very frequent. Apart from the factors 

 which favour germination, the establishment of reproduction depends on the 

 admission of a considerable degree of light, while in grazed areas reproduction 

 has little chance of making headway owing to the readiness with which the 

 \oung plants are browsed. 



Artificial reproduction. The tree can be raised easily either by 

 transplanting from the nursery or by direct sowings ; the latter have proved 

 much more successful than the former at Dehra Dun. It is also said that large 

 cuttings planted during the roXny season strike well ; this possibly applies 

 to a damp climate or where irrigation is carried out, but cuttings tried at 



