26 SYLVICULTURE IN THE TROPICS pt.i 



dense growth of shrubs and herbaceous plants, ferns, 

 etc., through which a path can only be cleared with the 

 help of a knife (Fig. 6). The humidity of the air 

 manifests itself in the abundance of filmy ferns, such 

 as Trichornanes and Uyme?iophyllum, the latter 

 clustering, like moss, on the trunks of the trees. In 

 the higher forests large festoons of mosses and lichens 

 hang from the branches of the trees. 



In the Indo-Malayan region, this zone is characterised 

 by trees belonging to the natural order of the 



Fig. 6. Wet zone undergrowth in a Ceylon forest. 



Dipterocarpaceae. This family, which extends into the 

 sub-tropical zone, both according to latitude and to 

 elevation above sea-level, and into the moist zone, where 

 it is represented by the Sill tree (Shorea robusta) of 

 India, and the Vatica obscura of Ceylon forests in the 

 east of the island, is found as far east as New Guinea, 

 and is represented by the greatest number of species 

 in the Malayan peninsula and in the Malay Archipelago. 

 Willi the exception of a single species of Vateria, which 

 is found in the Seychelles, the natural order is not 

 represented west of the Indian peninsula, unless the 



