NOTE ON THE MANGROVE FORESTS OF BRITISH 

 INDIA. 



By R. S. PEARSON, F.L.S. 



Forest Economist, Forest Research Institute, 

 Dehra Dun. 



i . INTRODUCTION. 



THE ever-increasing demand for tanning agents due to 

 the greater annual consumption of leather, together with 

 the decrease in supplies of some of the best known 

 tanning materials, such as chestnut bark from France and 

 " Babul " (Acacia arabica) bark in India, have caused the 

 trade to search for possible substitutes. British India 

 possesses many valuable products, some of which are only 

 used locally for tanning, such as Cassia aunculata and 

 Acacia arabica barks; Cxsalpinia digyna and Csesalpinia 

 coriaria, Acacia arabica, Phyllanthus Emblica and 

 Zizyphus xylopyra fruits and Anogeissus latifolia leaves, 

 while Myrabolams obtained from Terminalia Chebula, 

 and to a less extent from Terminalia belerica, are 

 not only used locally, but largely exported to Europe. 

 Another large group of tanning materials is obtained 

 from the bark of various species of mangrove from the 

 tidal forests of India. Up to the present they have not 

 been exported on a commercial scale to Europe, though 

 large quantities are annually imported into Calcutta from 

 the Sunderbans, and also on a small scale into Rangoon 

 and Moulmein from the coastal forests of Bassein, Tavoy 

 and Mergui. It is with this group of tan barks that it is 

 proposed to deal in the present note. 



2. SPECIES. 



The order to which mangroves belong is that of the 

 Rhizophorcx. They form, 'together with other species, 

 the tidal forests of India and Burma, having a very 

 striking appearance and peculiar character of their own. 

 The trees and shrubs do not generally grow into massive 

 steins, but form short, small to moderate-sized trunks 

 with spreading crowns covered with glossy thick leaves, 

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