44 



side, the direction toward which the fire advances. In the 

 opposite direction, toward the southwest, the fire moves more 

 slowly, and probably seldom attacks the forest margin. On 

 this side, therefore, the zone of marginal shrubbery is much wider. 

 There are a few places near Nuwara Eliya where tea estates 

 and patanas are adjacent. Here the fires have been carefully 

 prevented in order to avoid damage to the tea. In such places 

 the patanas have been rapidly overgrown with Rhododendron 





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Fig. 37. A drive through the mountain garden at Hakgala, Ceylon. 



and other trees and shrubs, and various other species of the 

 mossy forest are colonizing among them. Apparently only a 

 few years are necessary for the complete reestablishment of the 

 mossy forest. 



The shrubs of the broader forest margins and of the earlier 

 stages in reforestation are very interesting. Most conspicuous 

 among them is Hypericum mysorense, eight to ten feet tall, with 

 numerous showy yellow flowers. It looks exceedingly bizarre to 

 see its branches occupied, as they frequently are, by the mistle- 

 toes Loranthus sclerophyllus and L. suhorhicularis , or sometimes 

 by a small orchid. Melastomes of several species are abundant, 

 including Osbeckia ruhicunda and Rhodomyrtus tomentosus. Other 

 common species are Pavetta involucrata, of the Rubiaceae, and 

 Rauwolfia densiflora, of the Apocynaceae. 



