A History of Agriculture in India v1.c10.s3: 3. The Dry Deciduous Forests

A History of Agriculture in India v1.c10.s3

Language: English

3. The Dry Deciduous Forests

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These consist of low forests almost entirely of deciduous trees in all canopies. The following regions support a similar type of forests.

The Upper Gangetic Plains. These plains include Rajasthan to the east of the Aravalli Hills, Bundelkhand, Malwa in Madhya Pradesh, and the Jhansi Division of western Uttar Pradesh. The indigenous vegetation of this subregion is that of a dry country. The trees in the dry season are leafless for the most part and the grasses and herbs get desiccated and burnt up in the hot season. The principal forest is that of Ajmer, flanking the Aravallis and other hills which bound the subregion on the west. The average rainfall is 635 millimetres. At the close of winter, temperature rises rapidly during March, and humidity goes down. High temperature shooting up to 45.6°C in the shade, and desiccating hot westerly winds from the rocky Aravalli Hills and the sandy deserts of Rajasthan, often accompanied with dust-storms in May and June, have produced a typical desert vegetation of xerophytes, with adaptations to guard against dry conditions and with devices to conserve moisture. The commonest trees are the leafless *Capparis decidua*, *Salvadora oleoides*, with tough leathery leaves, *Acacia nilotica* (*A. arabica*), *Prosopis cineraria* (*P. spicigera*), *Balanites aegyptiaca*, *Diospyros cordifolia*, *Ficus rumphii* and several species of *Tamarix*, with reduced scaly leaves. The wastelands between the villages are more or less barren, with only occasional patches of *Ziziphus nummularia* and *Salvadora persica*. Other trees more or less restricted to western India are *Moringa oleifera*, *Acacia senegal* and *Prosopis cineraria* (*P. spicigera*) accompanied with the common trees of the drier parts of India, especially *Butea monosperma*. Considerable [Figure: Fig. 12. A dry deciduous forest containing Boswellia serrata and Acacia catechu in Madhya Pradesh (Courtesy: Forest Research Institute)]

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Fig. 9. A forest of sal (Shorea robusta), Dehra Dun. Sal forests are found at the foothills of the Himalayas from Uttar Pradesh to Assam. They are also found in the forest belt comprising southern Bihar, western Orissa and eastern Madhya Pradesh (Courtesy: Forest Research Institute)

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Fig. 10. A young forest of Pinus roxburghii in the Siwaliks, Uttar Pradesh (Courtesy: Forest Research Institute)

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Fig. 11. A forest of Cedrus deodara near Simla, 2,134 metres above sea-leve'. Cedrus deodara is the most stately tree in the forests of the western Himalayas (Courtesy: Forest Research Institute)

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Fig. 13. A forest of teak (Tectona grandis) in Madhya Pradesh (Courtesy: Forest Research Institute)

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Fig. 14. A tropical wet evergreen forest in Kerala. Left to right: small Dipterocarpus bourdillonii, Vitex altissima, large Dipterocarpus, large Kingiodendron pinnatum and Polyalthia sp. Shendurney Coupe V, Shencottah Division, Kerala (Courtesy: Forest Research Institute)

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Fig. 15. The Nilgiri sholas and grassland, Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu. The shola forests are a living fossil community limited to the hollows, especially the heads of water-courses. Once destroyed, they do not regenerate (Courtesy: Forest Research Institute)

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[Figure: Fig. 16. Pure sundri forest (Heritiera fomes), Sunderbans, West Bengal, showing dense pneumatophore growth and buttressing of trees (Courtesy: Forest Research Institute)]

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areas of this subregion are occupied by the usar or reh land which, being impregnated with alkaline salts, are converted into swamps in the rainy season and into deserts in the dry season. *Salvadora persica* and *Butea monosperma* are the only trees that succeed on saline soils. The rocky areas are covered with hardy shrubs, e.g. *Anogeissus pendula*. Among the herbaceous vegetation we find such interesting xerophytes as *Leptadenia spartium* with erect, cylindrical, almost leafless branches, the spiny *Alhagi pseudalhagi* (*A. camelorum*), and the deep-rooted *Arnebia hispidissima*. In the shade of the prickly bushes of *Capparis sepiaria* grows the inconspicuous drought-resistant *Ceropegia bulbosa*, whose bulbous perennating stem is roasted and eaten by cowherds. Besides these, we find succulent herbs, such as *Portulaca oleracea* and *Salsola foetida*, which store up a large quantity of water in their leaves, and rosette plants with tough perennating rootstocks, such as *Boerhaavia diffusa* and *Euphorbia thymifolia*. Of the herbaceous plants, a few perennial-rooted grasses are the only ones which thrive.

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Central India. The commonest species are *Anogeissus acuminata*, *A. latifolia*, *Erythrina suberosa*, *Mangifera indica*, *Syzygium cumini*, *Albizzia odoratissima*, *Boswellia serrata*, *Lannea coromandelica*, *Sterculia urens*, *Terminalia bellirica*, *Ficus glomerata* and *F. religiosa*. The most conspicuous trees are *Boswellia serrata* and *Sterculia urens*. In the leafless condition, *Boswellia serrata*, with its peculiarly twisted branches and yellow stem, is a remarkable sight (Fig. 12). Its wood is used in manufacturing matchboxes, matchsticks and paper pulp. *Sterculia urens* yields gum katira, which is used in cosmetics. The commonest bamboo is *Dendrocalamus strictus*, which is also used for the manufacture of paper pulp. The following trees comprise the lower canopy of these forests: *Mallotus philippensis*, *Flacourtia ramontchi*, *Carissa spinarum*, *Emblica officinalis*, *Wrightia tomentosa*, *Bauhinia retusa*, *B. racemosa*, *Caesaria tomentosa*, *Butea monosperma*, *Holoptelea integrifolia* and *Dendrocalamus strictus*.

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The South-east Deccan. This region comprises the Eastern Ghats, Tamil Nadu, a large part of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The vegetation is of a dry, thorny, stunted type. The commonest species are *Acacia planifrons*, *A. sundra*, *Mimusops* sp., *Azadirachta indica*, *Albizzia amara*, *Acacia latronum*, *Cailliea cinerea* (*Dichrostachya cinerea*), *Chloroxylon swietenia*, *Prosopis cineraria* (*P. spicigera*), *Bombax insigne* (*Salmalia insignis*) and *Osyris arborea*. The fleshy evergreen *Euphorbia* sp. also constitutes a characteristic feature of the vegetation. *Cassia auriculata* and *C. fistula* occur here and there, and the chief among the thorny shrubs are *Capparis* sp., *Carissa spinarum*, *Aristida adscensionis* and *Ziziphus* sp.

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Karnataka. The forests in the Karnataka region form an intermediate stage between the monsoon and xerophytic forests. The commonest forest tree is sandalwood. Other representatives are *Tectona grandis* and the associated *Terminalia* spp. and *Anogeissus latifolia*. Other species include *Dillenia pentagyna*, *Kydia calycina*, *Lagerstroemia lanceolata*, *Adina cordifolia*, *Madhuca indica* (*M. latifolia*), *Grewia asiatica*, *Pterocarpus marsupium*, *Lannea coromandelica*, *Bombax ceiba* (*Salmalia malabarica*), *Butea monosperma*, *Bridelia retusa*, *Diospyros melanoxylon* and *Emblica officinalis*. The chief bamboo is the well-known commercial variety, *Dendrocalamus strictus*.

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Grand forests of teak (*Tectona grandis*) grow in southern Madhya Pradesh (Fig. 13), Maharashtra, and the mountainous areas of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.