IX, A, 6 Brown and Mathews : Dipterocarp Forests 415 



will be brought out in connection with the forest of Mount 

 Maquiling. Dipterocarp forests may thus contain a relatively 

 small number of dipterocarps, but the individuals are mostly 

 large trees, and one of the chief characteristics of this family 

 is the production of large stands by one or several species. 

 To quote from Brandis : 



The most striking peculiarity of this order is, that numerous species 

 are gregarious, forming nearly pure forests of large extent in which one 

 species has obtained the upper hand, to the exclusion almost of all others. 

 In the tropical forests of Eastern Asia these species play the part which 

 in Europe belongs to trees of Conifer ae and Capuliferae * * *. The 

 most remarkable of these gregarious species is the Sal tree, Shorea robusta, 

 ■which forms pure or nearly pure forests of vast extent at the foot of the 

 Himalaya, * * • and in the hills of Eastern Central India * • *. 

 In a climate and on soil which suits it, this tree reigns supreme. 



Although the dipterocarps form large stands, there are usually 

 a number of other species associated with them. Whitford 

 reports * 120 different species on 10,200 square meters in the 

 Lamao forest of Bataan, P. I. Of these, 7 were dipterocarps. 

 On a plot of 2,500 square meters on Mount Maquiling there 

 were 92 different species, only 2 of which were dipterocarps. 

 Many of the species growing with the dipterocarps are small, 

 there being frequently 2 stories composed of different species 

 growing under the first or dominant story. Besides these smaller 

 trees, there are frequently also in the first story, larger species 

 other than dipterocarps, some of which may reach the height 

 of the tall dipterocarps. Kurz * describes the tallest story of 

 the closed tropical forests of Pegu as being composed chiefly 

 of deciduous Sterculiae, while along with these there are ever- 

 green dipterocarps and trees of other families. Between this 

 forest which can hardly be called dipterocarp and one in which 

 the top story is composed almost exclusively of dipterocarps 

 there must be many different types. 



The number of large trees other than dipterocarps naturally 

 varies inversely as the number of dipterocarps. The same is 

 usually true also of the small understory trees, the reason 

 being that as the dipterocarp layer becomes more highly 

 developed less light passes through it. 



Dipterocarp forests extend from northern India through 

 Ceylon, Burma, Indo-China, Malay Peninsula, and Sumatra to 



' Whitford, H. N., The vegetation of the Lamao forest reserve. This 

 Journal (1906), 1, 373. 



* Kurz, S., Preliminary report on the forest and other vegetation of 

 Pegu. C. B. Lewis, Baptist Mission Press, Calcutta (1875). 



