SAIN OR SAJ. 

 Terminalia tomentosa, W. and A. 



Natural Order Combretacese. 



1. General Distribution. 



This tree is one of the commonest and most widely distributed in 

 India, being found in abundance in the United Provinces, Bombay, 

 Madras, Bengal, and Burma. In Eastern Bengal and Assam, South 

 Tennasserim, Arakan, Southern Madras and North- Western India it is 

 scarce or absent, apparently not occurring in Upper India west of 76 

 longitude and north of 24 latitudeand ceasing in both Peninsulas about 

 10 latitude. Further details are given under each province. 



It is recorded from Ceylon in the Flora of British India but it was 

 probably planted. 



2. Locality and Habit. 



The range of this species is very wide as it is found almost from the 

 sea-level in the Peninsulas up to 4,000 feet on the lower slopes of the 

 Himalayas and the hills of Upper Burma. It grows best, however, 

 between 300 and 2,000 feet, becoming stunted on the higher levels. It 

 prefers deep fresh loams containing more clay than sand, and is often 

 found on low-lying moist localities, and in nalas, as it is able to stand a 

 good deal of water-logging. It is one of the few species which grow 

 abundantly on black cotton soil in the Central Provinces though it re- 

 mains stunted in such localities. On laterite it is found in great abun- 

 dance in certain districts but is often small and crooked. 



F. Foulkes in "Notes on Timber Trees South Kanara" says : 



' Will grow in almost any soil but prefers a deep moist clayey soil of alluvial origin : 

 the blacker the bark, the better the factors of the locality suit the tree. When it is 

 hollow the bark becomes an ashy grey over the spot. 



It grows very fairly in dry shallow rocky laterite plains but becomes stunted on the 

 bare dry upland laterite hills. Prefers a laterite to a gneiss soil. It is entirely absent 

 on sandy soil. Is especially useful for regeneration of lands in which the soil has 

 deteriorated by exposure owing to reckless grazing and fires. 



4A 



