GBEGABIOUSNE9S AND SOCIABILITY OF SPECIES. 103 



These characteristics of the soil and locality exclude most of the 

 ordinary companions of the teak Terminalia tomentosa, Anogeis- 

 sus latifolia, khair, Boswellia serrata, Pterocarpus Marsupium, Ster- 

 culia urens, &c. The few associates that follow it (Morinda citrifolla, 

 Eriolcena Hookeriana, Acacia leucophlcea, Casearia graveolens and 

 tomentosa, Ulmus integrifolia, &c.,) being beaten by it in the strug- 

 gle for existence owing to the following causes : 



(a) The extraordinary vitality of its seeds, which the annual 

 floods have only helped to disseminate and prepare for immediate 

 germination from the time these silt-formed tracts were deposited. 



(b) The constant moisture during the growing season and ori- 

 ginal absence or spareness of grass, which favoured the germina- 

 tion of the seeds and the subsequent establishment and develop- 

 ment of the young seedlings. 



(c) The rapid growth of these latter in consequence, almost 

 from the first years up to the attainment of their full height. 



(d) Their enormous spreading leaves, which living or dead, 

 suppressed every other forest seedling under, or in contact with, 

 them. 



(e) The thick continuous felt-like mass formed by the fallen 

 teak leaves when saturated by rain, which mass, decomposing 

 slowly, smothers up almost every seedling produced under it, and 

 is impenetrable to the roots of most seedlings that germinate above 



it. 



(f) The great vitality of the thick taproot and of the collum 



buds, which enables young teak to survive forest conflgrations 

 better than most of its companions in the locality. 



(g) The extraordinary vigour and longevity of these collum 

 buds, which ramify, by multiplication, even into the main lateral 

 roots, so that these latter can throw up shoots from a depth of 

 nearly a foot below the surface of the soil. 



(h) The abundance and great vitality of the dormant buds in 

 the trunk of teak. 



(i) The exceptionally great vitality of the cambium, which all 

 but enables detached pieces of the stem to strike root and grow. 



(j) The severity, owing to the large, woody, loosely-packed 

 fallen teak leaves, of the annual conflagrations, which, however, 

 thanks to characters (y), (h) and (i), cause less permanent injury 

 to the teak than to most of, if not all, its companions. 



(k) The ability of teak up to a certain age (certainly up to 40 

 years) to form by itself a complete leaf-canopy capable of killing 



