CH. II 



CLIMATE 27 



very doubtful genus of Monotes, which is found in 

 Africa and seems to be more nearly allied to the 

 Tiliaceae, 1 is ascribed to it. Brandis 2 divides them into 

 three groups, viz. : western, eastern, and of general 

 distribution. The western group is represented by 

 the genera Vateria, Doona, Stemonoporus, and Mono- 

 porandra, the last three of which are endemic in 

 Ceylon. In the eastern group, and found within the 

 Malay peninsula and Archipelago, in the Philippines, 

 and New Guinea, are fifteen species of Anisoptera, while 

 the last named is excluded from the domain of the 

 species of Parashorea, Pentacme, Dryabalanops, 

 Isoptera, and Pachynocarpus. The main group, with 

 a more universal distribution, contains the important 

 genera of Dipterocarpus, Hopea, Shorea, Balano- 

 carpus, Cotylelobium (Sunaptea), 3 and Vatica. 



Several of these trees are gregarious anc l form more 

 or less pure forests, as we have already seen of Sal in 

 the moist zone. In this zone several species of 

 Dipterocarpus, notably the Eng tree (D. tuberculatus) 

 of Burma and the Hora (D. zeylanicus) of Ceylon, also 

 Vatica obscura and V. Roxburgliiana of Ceylon, form 

 pure forests. Some forests, although not exclusively 

 or almost exclusively composed of one species, are almost 

 entirely made up of members of this natural order 

 (Fig. 7). In some of the moister forests of Ceylon I 

 have seen portions composed almost entirely of different 

 species of Doona, with a free admixture of Dipterocarpus, 

 Shorea, Stemonoporus, Hopea, and, along rocky gullies, 

 Vateria.* Economically, this natural order is of very 

 great importance. Many of its members are stately 

 timber trees uniting to great size a great strength of 

 fibre, while numerous by-products are obtained from 

 them, such as camphor, which is deposited in the shape 



1 Dr. Heim, Recherches sur les DipUrocarpacees, 1892. 



2 Sitzungsberichten der niederrhein. Gesellsch. f. Natur- u. Heilkuiide zu 

 Bonn, Jan. 20, 1896. 



3 Trimen, Flora of Ceylon. 



4 In the Philippines it is estimated that 70 per cent of the total standing 

 timber in the islands consists of trees of this family. 



