i85 



Effects of the Drought on Plants. 



In the Botanic Gardens the ponds sank unusually low, and the 

 springs produced very little, the grass plots were very much"burnt up 

 and the ground badly cracked, but -in extensively exposed flat 

 areas, like the esplanade and race course, the burning of the grass 

 was much more extensive and marked. This was due to the absence 

 of shadow from trees, banks, etc., for under even a little shade the dew 

 which was very heavy, lay for much longer during the day and pre- 

 vented the complete destruction of the blades of the grasses. 



Many of the grasses with creeping stems above ground such as 

 Ischoemum ciliatum suffered badly, as after the drying up of the leaves 

 from the sun heat, the creeping stems exposed by the loss of the 

 leaves to the full sun heat perished also. 



Lalang and other grasses with the rhizomes buried under ground 

 were unhurt. The herbaceous plants in the beds of course suffered 

 much, and even in the shaded rockeries the selaginellas and ferns were 

 very badly hurt, and many died. The deciduous trees naturally shed 

 their leaves, and there was all through a great leaf-shedding of the 

 non-deciduous trees, so that the forests looked quite thin. This natural- 

 ly let some light upon the herbaceous plants growing beneath the trees 

 and also allowed of a greater evaporation of water so that shade 

 plants not specially guarded against the heat suffered much. 



Trees with compound leaves like those of the Leguminosse suffered 

 less than others and those with thick coriaceous leaves like mango- 

 steen were quite unhurt. Laticiferous plants, which did not shed their 

 leaves, se^^med to suffer more than thinner leaved non-Iaticiferous 

 plants. Thus where Hoy a Ridley i and Passiflora laurifolia were growing 

 together on the same tree, the passion flower did not suffer, while the 

 Hoy a had its fleshy leaves shrunk and half withered. 



Plumieria, a desert plant, though laticiferous, did not suffer, as it 

 only retained a few leaves on the ends of the branches, thereby losing 

 little water by transpiration, and flowered heavily. 



Para Rubber did not sufter much, but weak trees and old ones 

 here and there collapsed. The flow of latex, however, diminished as 

 might be expected. 



Many of the flowering trees seemed to enjoy the heat, and came 

 out in brilliant flower, such were Angsana {Pterocarpus indicus) Mesua 

 ferrea, Lagerstroemias, Shorea bracteolaxa, Poinciaua regiaj Solanum 

 Maroniense Andira inermis. etc., and Bougainville a spectaMlis which is 

 not a heavy flowerer here as a rule like the other species, was very 

 floriferous. « 



Some of the palms suftered a good deal, the lower leaves dying , 

 first, and in some cases, e.g., cyrtostachys lacca, the red stemmed 

 palm, the stems dried up. This palm is really an inhabitant of 

 swampy forest, and though it grows remarkably well in exposed dry 



