68 BOTANICAL TOUR IN THE LAKHIMFUR DISTRICT, ASSAM- 
To continue the list we have P^jderia tomentosa whose flowers 
resemble Ihoseof Cinchona ; Naravelta zeylamca, a widely climbing 
plant with long plumose achenes ; Melodorum bicolory an abundant 
Aiionaceous plant whose brown tomentose buds open ouc into dark 
re 1 flowers; Tapiria h/rsuta, 3. cWmh'ing member oi Anacardiacecey a.nd 
Conocephalus suaveolensy a gigantic large-leaved climj^er both com- 
mon throughout the tropical forests of the Eastern Himalaya. Several 
very prickly species of Acacia also prevail as climbers. 
Other plants to name for the further illustration of climbing 
vegetation would be fhunberffia grandijloray Thunberpia coccinea, 
Thaldiantha^ Hodgsonia heteroclitay TrichosantheSy Gynostemmay 
VitiSy Ipomaea^md other genera of ConvolvalaceaCy Trachelospetmumy 
EcdysantherOy llligeray Combretuniy Ficus scandenSy Pagnea 
0 ho vat a y etc. 
1 he order of Pal ;.is also finds a place in this Flora. Calami of 
several species are gregarious and add to the difficulty of exploration 
in this forest by the bristly array of strong, sharp spines with which 
all are invested. Phcenix sylvestriSy the Toddy Palm, and Areca 
Catechu, the Be tel Nut, are not indigenous but are cultivated by the 
villagers. Some noble species seem to be truly wild, such as Caryota 
urens one of the most graceful palms in India ; Wallichia disticha^ 
most worthy of note from producing its fronds in two regular series on 
opposite sides of the stem as in Ravenala ; Wallichia densiHoray a 
short stemmed species with Caryota-like leaves; Livistona Jenkin, 
siana., with a crown of large fan-shaped fronds ; and Pinanga gracilis. 
Plantains [Musa) of several varieties are cultivated by the 
native^s and a small slender stemmed species with an erect inflo- 
rescence — Musa rosacea — grows here and there throughout the ^ 
forest. 
Tree ferns are also coinparatively rwimerons---- A Isophila ^lauca 
and A, glabra; but here neither make any approach towards their 
maximum development, indeed I did not observe the former with 
caudices more than lo feet high and then the stems were thin 
and bore but a scanty crown of fronds. 
Angiopteris evecta is of nornral growth and this is the western 
limit (so far as our knowdedge at present stands) of Dicksonia 
BarometZy formerly distinguished as A assamica. This has large 
glaucous tree-fern-like fronds rising from a depressed caudex 
covered with bright, chestnut-coloured scales. 
1 he last observations to be noted before we finally leave this 
forest are those concerning the herbaceous vegetation which, as 
may be presumed, is poor in comparison with the abundance of 
arboreal and shrubby types. 
