mac ree ee Sihyitinad and P osioleg ical Botany. 
‘sesame. eee & 
cold of ae : Gi in, e - 
5. Lhe Chino- Fapanese Region. .\ 2 es oe. 
The Chinese lowlands, including the Japanese archipelago, 
have the advantage over Europe of a more regular distribu- 
tion of the rainfall. This is in consequence of the monsoons, 
which extend as far as 40° or even 45° N. lat., and causea 
rainy period in the spring. The extremely regular succession 
of seasons which results is favourable toa careful garden-like 
- agriculture, the chief crops being wheat, cotton, indigo, the 
_sugar-cane, and orange, but especially rice, the mulberry, and 
the tea-tree. There are no meadows or fodder-crops. The 
aboriginal vegetation has been driven back to the high- 
lands. A characteristic of the native flora is the large number 
of trees and shrubs, many of them, like the Camellia, ever- 
*. 
~ 
green. } ei ; 
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4 ° *j A ee 
6. The Indian Monsoon Region. 1 ia 
This region is not characterised by any special climatal 
conditions, but only by the general phenomena of the tropics. 
Growth takes place exclusively in the rainy season. Accord- 
ingly as the monsoon is a land- or a sea-breeze, is it dry or 
‘moist ; and the monsoon region, in fact, includes*every de- 
scription of climate which is possible within the tropics. — 
On its northern border, for example, its conditions approxi- | 
mate to those of the temperate zone; and at the foot of the 
‘Himalayas there is an immediate rane from the desert — 
landscape to the most luxuriant tropical forests. Besides 
the gigantic forests, characteristic forms of vegetation are 
presented by the savannahs and the jungles. Among the 24 
prominent features of the flora of this region are palms, ~ 
bamboos, and tree-ferns; the banyan, /zcus indica, which 
emits aerial roots from its branches to the ere sae | 
