NOTES FROM A JOURNEY TO NEPAL. 
67 
Martini and Saccharum arundinaceum. When fire is withheld 
long enough or is not fierce enough, Bombax malabaricum can get 
a hold and flourish 
Appearance of the bliav^r or great forest: its climbers, its two 
(liFisioDs. 
The hhavar or level forest is not dense, and the ground under 
the trees is lit in November w'ith checkered sunlight, whether the 
overhead canopy be of leaves of the s<ll {Shore a robtista), or of the 
leaves of the variety of trees which grow together south of the sdl. 
It becomes yet more open on the Chorea Ghdti hills. 
Yapp has recently used the happy expression general vegeta- 
tion level ” to indicate the height above the ground that an 
assemblage of plants in chief part attains. We have two 
general vegetation levels in this forest, one of the trees, and the 
other of the half shrubby, half herbaceous assemblage under them. 
As the lowest foliage of the trees is generally ten feet above the 
lower general vegetation level, one can look widely through the 
forest over the grass and shrub tops. This condition is of course 
exaggerated in the Dipterocarp forests of northern Burma, where 
one can see down aisles and avenues in all directions over quite a 
short undergrowth : and it is in great contrast to the tangle of 
creepers and shrubs of all sizes which occurs in the mixed forests 
on the lower slopes of the Himalaya. 
Large tree-ascending creepers, except Spatho/obus,3ire generally 
absent: small shrub-climbing creepers are very common: such are 
Dioscorea dsemona, D, glabra^ D. anguina, D. bulbifera^ D , penta- 
phylluy Zehnejria umbellata and Cissampelos Pareira. It has seemed 
to me that some of the sil forests of the Darjeeling district are 
peculiarly full of fleshy rooted plants, such as these creepers are. 
Entering the forest at Simalbdsa we find trees of Bombax 
malabaricum^ Bauhinia malabaricUy Mallotus philippinensisy 
Adina cordi folia, Bridelia retusa, Cedrela Toon a, Dillenia 
pentagyna, Hymenodictyon excelsumy Spondias axillarisy and 
Terminalia tomentosay with,- below them, Phyllanthus Emblica, 
Streblus aspevy Randia dumetorum and Thespesia Lampas. 
Again below on- the ground is a short vegetation of the grasses, 
Oplismenus composituSy Setaria glaucay Pol Uni a articulatuy Chloris 
incompletay Panicum prostratumy Eragrostis amahilisy Andropo- 
gon Jaseicularisy Panicum flavidumy mixed with a Lceay the 
composites Elephantopus scaberf Vernonia cinereUy and Adenost^m- 
ma viscosu^Hy the Leguminosae Mimosa pudicuy Crotaiaria alata and 
