40 SYLVICULTURE IN THE TROPICS PT 



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near the coast, is merely a savannah-forest deteriorating 

 into savannah. 



On the wet side, then, the Ceylon forests are basal 

 forests well up to about 1000 metres (3000 ft.), although 

 some species do not range quite so high. From that 

 elevation up to about 1500 metres (5000 ft.), i.e. in the 

 lower montane zone, the most characteristic species are 

 the so-called "Red Doons" (Doona zeylanica and D. 

 Gardneri), while other species belonging to the upper 

 rnontane zone begin to creep in ; these are a number 

 of trees belonging to the genera Eugenia, Calophyllum, 

 Gordonia, Michelia, with, in the lower tier, Elaeo- 

 carpus, Symplocos, Meliosma, and Vaccinium (Fig. 9). 

 In the upper montane zone the undergrowth differs 

 from that in the lower zone, where it is composed of a 

 great variety of shrubs and climbing plants, among 

 which are several species of the Cane-Palm (Calamus), 

 and in more open spaces the larger Hill -Bamboo 

 (Ochlandra stridula), or introduced plants such as 

 Lantana, while above, the climbers are more scanty and 

 small (e.g. Medinilla) and the undergrowth consists 

 either of the smaller Bamboo (Arundinaria spp.) or of 

 vast sheets of a great number of species of Strobilantlies 

 which flower periodically after a certain cycle of years 

 and die down. It is between 1500 and 2000 metres 

 (roughly 3000 to 6000 ft.) that the greatest develop- 

 ment of tree-ferns is to be found, belonging chiefly to 

 the genera Cyathea and Alsophila, the latter only at 

 the higher altitudes. The sub-arborescent Angiopteris 

 of the lower levels also gives way at higher elevations 

 to the very similar Marattia. In the more open spaces, 

 where the soil is more swampy, are scattered trees of 

 Rhododendron arboreum, while an African montane 

 character is given to the landscape by the appearance 

 of giant Lobelias. The highest points of the island do 

 not reach much above 2500 metres (8500 ft,); forests, 

 therefore, reach, under favourable conditions of soil and 

 slope, up to the highest points, but the trees are smaller 

 and the crowns have a twisted and disordered appear- 



