CH. II 



CLIMATE 29 



The tribe of the Bamboos, which is also well 

 represented in the sub-tropical and even in temperate 

 zones, finds in this wet tropical zone its greatest 

 development, especially in the Malay peninsula, and, 

 with the dense leaf-canopy which it is able to form, it 

 encroaches on the forest and in places drives other 

 species away. It is found of all sizes, from the small 

 Arundinaria of the mountain zone to the g-io-antic 

 Dendrocalamus Brandisii, with culms up to 120 feet 

 long, of Burma. In Burma bamboos are of the greatest 

 economic importance to the people, who use them for 

 all manner of purposes, such as all parts of a house 

 (posts, beams, plaited walls and floors, thatch, etc.), as 

 well as for household utensils and weapons. 



Generally speaking, the forests of this zone, in Asia, 

 are made up of a very great variety of species, most of 

 them evergreen, in order to be able to resist the effects 

 of heavy transpiration ; many of the trees attain a very 

 great size, and many are strongly buttressed (Fig. 8). 



Among the trees not already mentioned above, the 

 following can be cited for the low country : Tetrameles 

 nudiflora, Canarium spp., Mangifera spp. ; several 

 Guttiferae, such as Mesua, Garcinia, and Calophyllum ; 

 Ebenaceae, such as many species of Diospyros, Maba, 

 etc. ; Meliaceae, such as Chickrassia, Amoora, Melia, 

 etc. ; Urticaceae, such as Ficus, Celtis, and Artocarpus ; 

 Sapotaceae,such asPalaquium, Isonandra, and Bassia ; 

 Leguminosae, such as Albizzia, Pterocarpus, Parkia, 

 Pe?'icopsis, and Cassia ; Dilleniaceae, such as Dillenia 

 and Wormia; Palmaeby Caryota, Areca, and Calamus ; 

 while higher up will be found a number of species of 

 Eugenia, Calophyllum, Gordonia, Michelia, Symplocos, 

 Vaccinium, and Elaeocarpus ; Rhododendron is found 

 in more exposed places, and the undergrowth is in many 

 cases a dense thicket of Strobilanthes or small bamboo. 



Many of the trees are of great economic value for 

 their timber, which, however, is usually heavy (such 

 as Mesua, Calophyllum, Palaquium, Pericopsis, Gor- 

 donia, Chickrassia, Michelia, and Pterocarpus), while 



