MIXED CKOF OF UNIFOEM AGE. 39 



hand, dormant buds in conifers are the exception not the rule, and 

 amongst Indian conifers the Pinus longifolia and yew are perhaps 

 the only species which possess true dormant buds ; but even these 

 are situated at a comparatively few irregular points on young wood, 

 being soon overtaken by, and disappearing under, the advancing 

 concentric layers of wood, and being really numerous and possess- 

 ing much vitality only until the young pine has formed its first true 

 verticel. Very young deodar and larch, before they begin to shoot 

 up rapidly, apparently possess dormant buds, but the side shoots 

 they produce, by which they are so often enabled to replace the in- 

 jured upper end of the main axis, are simply due to an abnormal 

 development of the tufts of needles, these tufts being abortive bran- 

 ches. 



(vi) Ability to form adventitious buds. Few species possess this 

 faculty to a sufficient extent to give them any appreciable prepon- 

 derance over their neighbours,. but the few which do enjoy it in a 

 marked manner, like Boswillia serrata, are of course placed at a 

 great advantage. 



(vii) Vitality of the root-collum. This property is intimately 

 connected with, and is to a great extent a resultant of, properties 

 (iv), (v) and (Vi), but its action is of a sufficiently special kind to 

 be separately discussed. Thus, for instance, both sal and Termi- 

 nalia tomentosa coppice as freely as teak until an advanced age, but 

 the last only is able, up to 40 or 50 years of age, to throw up shoot? 

 from the collum of the root several inches below the surface of the 

 ground. Nearly all broad-leaved species in India are capable of 

 shooting up again from this region during the first few years, owinu- 

 to the buds produced therein ; but they do so with various decrees 

 of vigour, and it is evident that such of them as retain this faculty 

 longest are pre-eminently the best adaptad to resist the effects of fire. 



(viii) Ability to throw up suckers. -Species which possess 

 this faculty, rather benefit than otherwise by forest fires, for 

 although recurring conflagrations prevent or retard the up war, 1 

 growth of individuals, the number of individuals is thereby con- 

 stantly augmented. This result follows not only when an existing 

 individual is burnt, but even when it is simply weakened, siuca the 

 tendency to throw up suckers is directly proportional to the extent 

 of injury suffered by the aerial portion of the parent plant. Witness 

 the numerous large patches of almost pure Ougeinia dalbergioides in 

 the dry forests of the Sathpuras. The remarkable gregariousness of 

 Boswellia serrata is also, in a great measure, due to its being able to 

 produce suckers. 



