VEGETATION.-A division of India into vegetation regions can best be made on the basis of the physical and climatic regions already discussed. The Himalayas may be subdivided into an eastern and a western section. The first of these—to the east of Nepal— faces the advancing monsoon current and has, therefore, a heavy rainfall. The lower slopes are covered with a dense tropical forest, in which the sac, magnolia, and various kinds of oaks, palms, and bamboos are all found. The temperate zone, which lies between 6,500 and 11,500 feet above sea level, contains deciduous trees such as the oak, maple, and magnolia ; coniferous trees, such as the silver fir ; and shrubs, such as the rhododendron. The alpine zone, at a height of 12,000 feet and over, has but a few coniferous trees. The Western Himalayas, with their higher latitude and drier and cooler climate, are less richly endowed, but the general character of the vegetation is the same. The tropical forest, indeed, is lower, and does not extend beyond the Indus, but, owing to the greater breadth of the mountains, the alpine zone is more fully developed. The Indus Plain, with its low rainfall, has but a scanty vegetation, which rapidly disappears as the desert is approached. Trees, such as the tamarisk and acacia, are found chiefly in the neighbourhood of rivers, and on the flanks of the Himalayas and the Aravalli hills ; elsewhere the land is covered with a low, herbaceous vegetation which is burnt up during the dry season. The Gangetic Plain may be subdivided according to the humidity of its different parts. West of the great bend of the Ganges at Rajmahal, the indigenous vegetation is that of a dry country ; in the extreme west it is continuous with that of the Indus plain, while further east such trees as exist are leafless during the dry season, and the grass is burnt up. East of Rajmahal
where the moisture is much greater, the mango, fig, bamboo, and different varieties of palm all flourish, while in the Sundarbans, or lower part of the delta, the vegetation is luxuriant, and mangroves and other evergreen trees abound. The indigenous vegetation of the Gangetic plain, it ought to be noted, is only of secondary impor tance to that of the cultivated lands. The west coast, from southern Gujarat to Cape Comorin, has, on the whole, a heavy rainfall, and, except in the most northerly parts, is covered with a dense evergreen forest which includes valuable timber trees such as teak, ebony, and sandal-wood, and many varieties of palms and bamboos. The west coast vegetation is carried eastwards across the Deccan on the loftier parts of the plateau, but elsewhere the lower rainfall only permits the existence of deciduous forests, jungles of small trees, herbaceous vegetation, and grassland. The Coromandel coast vegetation has the same general character as the Deccan, but the presence of dry evergreen plants differentiates it to some extent. Burma is partly covered with forest of a tropical character. In the centre of the country, where the rainfall is lower, there are areas of deciduous trees and grassland, but round the coasts and on the mountain slopes there is a wet evergreen forest.