63 



Eetnarks on the Vegetation , 



[July 



The trees most prevalent on these Hills, are of the natural Order 

 MyrtacecBy including three or four species of Syzygium and one Myrtusi 

 these, with the Rhododendron, constitute about one half of the timber 

 trees, the total number of species amounting to upwards of a hundred. 

 The Syzygium has ihe power of throwing off' its petals while the 

 flower is expanding ; a character quite eastern, found at its maximum 

 in the numerous genus Eucalyptus of New Holland. "When it is consi- 

 dered that the Myrtacecs, Laurinece, Melastomacece and Loranthuceoe, 

 are abundant on the Hills, as well as in other parts of the line of 

 ghauts, it will not be unreasonable to compare the Flora directly with 

 that of the Eastern Islands, passing over the intermediate plains. 

 They have many plants in common, and whoever has had an opportu- 

 nity of making the comparison, must be struck with the close resem- 

 blance. It would be desirable to ascertain this point more fully, as it 

 in some degree concerns the geology of India.* 



A singularly rich and beautiful vegetation prevails, within a certain 

 compass, to the eastward ; this space may include the islands of the 

 Eastern Archipelago, and the southern part of the Asiatic continent. 

 Independently of systematic distinctions, one invariable external cha- 

 racter or aspect belongs to the trees of these islands — an exact regular 

 outline, a rich foliage, remarkable for its density and brightness of 

 colour, being entirely evergreen, generally coriaceous, though sometimes 

 membranous, but, in either case, persistent throughout the year, and 

 highly coloured on first unfolding. These circumstances give an ex- 

 pression of great beauty and elegance to the woods of the eastern 

 islands. The Loranfhus, and other parasitical plants, abound on the 

 branches, and the richness of their coloring exceeds that of the trees 

 themselves. Ferns, also, are in profusion, at the level of the sea, 

 growing to a great size on rocks, walls and the boughs of trees; some 

 of them, of a twining habit, reach a height of twenty or thirty feet. This 

 vegetation does not appear to continue far to the eastward ; in the 

 direction of Australia it has ceased ; there the species are of a different 

 character, and the foliage is remarked as being lax, straggling and of 

 dull colour. To the westward, also, there are few traces of this vegeta- 

 tion, even at so short a distance as the Coromandel Coast : on the 

 Malabar side, however, there is, and the Santalum, Ixora, Eugenia, &c. 

 are quite characteristic of the Malayan Flora. The Neilgherries have 

 a vegetation strongly resembling that of the Indian islands, even at the 

 ordinary levels, but it is to the lofty mountain ranges of Sumatra that 



* * For example, it is about the latitude of the Neilgherries or Nowera Ellia, that we 

 might expect the divergence of a great connecting cross chain, corresponding with the 

 Himalayan and Vindyha range, and such a range as this may have been at one time above 

 water, connecting the Peninsula with the more easterly ridges. 



