43 



later. Such clumps of sprouts arc very common, especially in 

 the wet grassland association. If the tree is spared until it has 

 passed the critical size, it apparently grows to maturity in spite 

 of later fires. Almost every one of the older trees shows the 

 scars of fire, invariably on the southwest side of the trunk, and 

 seldom extending over four feet from the ground. The older 

 trees are doubtless protected from fire by their thick heavy bark. 

 In some cases, repeated fires have destroyed one side of the tree 

 completely, leaving only a U-shaped zone of living tissue. 



The branches of the Rhododendron are stifif, gnarled, and 

 crooked, and the thick leathery elliptical leaves are grouped in 

 rosette-like clusters at the tip of the twigs. The tree has a 

 peculiarly fantastic appearance which can not be paralleled in 

 temperate North America, unless possibly in the chaparral of the 

 extreme southwest. The habit is however by no means un- 

 common among the trees of the mossy forests which surround 

 the patanas. 



The forest margin is everywhere abrupt, but especially so on 

 the northeastern side of the patanas. Here there is usually a 

 marginal zone of a tall Andropogon-Wyie grass (possibly ^. nardus), 

 five feet wide, then a narrow zone of Ruhus and melastomaceous 

 shrubs, three feet wide, and beyond that the vertical, opaque, 

 apparently impenetrable forest wall. As Willis wrote, in two 

 strides one can pass from forest to patana, or the reverse. 



The opposite margin of the patana is not so abrupt. The 

 Rhododendron trees become more numerous nearer the forest, the 

 zone of shrubbery broadens out and includes many more species, 

 and the forest itself slopes back, in profile view, from small trees 

 in front to larger ones behind. 



Various theories have been advanced to explain the origin of 

 the patanas. Whatever their origin may have been, their 

 perpetuation is certainly due to the annual fires which sweep 

 across them. March is the dryest month at Nuwara Eliya, 

 and shortly after the opening of the southwest monsoon, in April 

 or May, the patanas are fired. The old grasses are burned off, 

 many of the young trees killed, and, as a result of repeated burn- 

 ings, the forest itself is slowh- invaded, especially at the northeast 



