366 
FLORA OF THE SUNDRIBUNS. 
its occurrence, or of most* * * § species that, even if plentiful where they 
occur, are confined to restricted areas within the Sundribun region. 
The nature of this Littoral Flora, of which the Sundribuns form one 
of the most important provinces, has been so fully and philosophically 
dealt with by Schimper, that little has been left for others to add to his 
statements and conclusions,"^ Schimper’s deductions are largely 
based on his own observations in the Malay Archipelago, though he has 
also made use of the observations of others, and notably of Kurz,t as 
regards the shores of the Andamans and Burma. Besides Schimper’s 
classical work, however, reference may be made to two papers by the 
writer, wherein will be found an account of the corresponding flora in 
two non-Malayan localities that have not been dealt with either by 
Schimper or by Kurz ; the shores of the Coco group at the north end 
of the AndamanSjJ and the Laccadive Archipelago. § That some of 
the littoral species characteristic of the Strand-flora which occupies all 
the coasts from the Mascarenes to Melanesia will never be found in the 
Sundribuns is quite probable. Some of the characteristic species appear 
to be exclusively confined to rocky headlands or to shingle beaches, 
rarely if ever extending to sandy beaches and never appearing in 
tidal-swamps. For such species the Sundribun area affords no foot- 
hold. But for species that are to be found in tidal swanrip-forests 
elsewhere in Malaya, Indo-China or India, the conditions that prevail 
in the Sundribuns are entirely suitable, and there is not a single Indo- 
Malayan swamp-forest species whose occurrence in our area would 
cause surprise. The limited extent of the sandy beaches along the 
Sundribun sea-face makes it conceivable that there is not sufficient 
accommodation for all the species that occur on sandy sea-shores 
elsewhere in the region occupied by this Strand-flora, but there is 
not in this fact a manifest reason why any particular species should be 
absent. Subjoined is therefore given a list of species, not hitherto re- 
ported from the Sundribuns, that are characteristic of other Indo- 
Malayan coasts and that therefore should be kept in mind as possible 
constituents of the Sundribun Flora. This list is in no sense exhaustive ; 
it merely exhibits the names of striking and familiar species common 
on other shores of the Bay of Bengal. 
* Schimper ; Die indo-malayische Strand flora ; Jena, 1891. 
t Kurz: Preliminary Report on the foiest and other vegetation of Pegu ; Calcutta, 
1875 : also Forest Flora of British Burma; Calcutta, 1877. 
X Prain : Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal^ lx. 2, p. 283, et seq. ; list of 
littoral species at p. 380- 
§ Prain : Botany of the Laccadives ; Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society^ 
vol. vii (1892) and viii (1893). 
