FLORISTIC REGIONS 109 



Welw.), with bitter foliage but aromatic gourds, and 

 the even more remarkable Welwitschia mirabilis Hook, 

 fil., a surviving isolated gymnospermous type. 



MADAGASCAR. Madagascar, separated from the con- 

 tinent by water nearly or more than 1000 fathoms deep, is 

 considered as an ancient continental island. With seven 

 months' rain, this tropical island is mainly covered by 

 Rain-forest, with Tree-ferns, lianes, Bamboos, and epiphy- 

 tic Orchids. The lofty granitic interior bears a savannah 

 vegetation, and towards the south it is drier and more 

 thorny. With a flora of over 4000 species, of which 

 three-quarters, including one small order, the ChlcenacecB, 

 are endemic, the Composites and Heaths suggest the 

 generally African character of the flora, whilst the 

 Bamboos and the Pitcher-plants (Nepenthes) connect it 

 with the Indian t Monsoon Region. 



The granitic Seychelles, probably detached from 

 Madagascar in Tertiary times, have also a considerable 

 endemic element in their flora, of which the best known 

 species is the remarkable Double Coco-nut (Lodo'icea 

 sechellarum Labill.). 



INDO-MALAYAN REGION. In the Indo-Malayan or 

 Indian Monsoon Region, with its mangrove-swamps and 

 striking forms of Ficus, including the pillar-rooted 

 Banyan (F. indica L.), the drip-tipped Pipal (F. 

 religiosa L.), the Rampong or India-rubber (F. elastica 

 Roxb.), and many others, we have the typical Rain- 

 forest in Java, Ceylon, and the Malay states; but the 

 less continuously wet Monsoon-forest over much of the 

 rest of the area. In East Java, for instance, a non- 

 retentive soil bears the tropophilous pure " djati " or 

 teak-forests of Tectona grandis L. fil. Besides a pro- 

 fusion of epiphytic Orchids, Gingers and other Scita- 

 minece, and Bamboos, the many Water-lilies, the climbing 

 Palms (Calamus), Nepenthes, and the Dipterocarpacecs 

 are characteristic. 



In the north-west this region is succeeded at altitudes 

 of over 5000 feet by what has been termed the Region of 

 Rhododendrons. In the lower moister forests these 

 large woody plants grow epiphytically; but at still 

 greater altitudes they give place to conifers, such as 

 Picea Morinda Link and Cedrus Deodar a Loud., which 

 extend to the upper limit of trees. So too, at similar 

 altitudes in Java, forests of Ficus give place to Oaks, 



