Gangaw (Messua ferrea) the Assam iron-wood, is suitable for sleepers; and didu (Bombax insigne) is used for tea-boxes and packing-cases.
The most striking trees in the forest region are, in the basin of the Cavalla, the giant Funtumia elastica, which grows to an altitude of 200 ft.; various kinds of Parinarium, Oldfieldia and Khaya; the bombax or cotton tree, giant dracaenas, many kinds of fig; Borassus palms, oil palms, the climbing Calamus palms, and on the coast the coconut.
The arboreous forms which least require the humid and equable heat of the more truly tropical and equatorial climates, and are best able to resist the high temperatures and excessive drought of the northern Indian hot months from April to June, are certain Leguminosae, Bauhinia, Acacia, Butea and Dalbergia, Bombax, Shorea, Nauclea, Lagerstroemia, and Bignonia, a few bamboos and palms, with others which extend far beyond the tropic, and give a tropical aspect to the forest to the extreme northern border of the Indian plain.
The beautiful ceiba (Bombax ceiba L., Ceiba pentandra) or silk cotton tree is the giant of the Cuban forests; it often grows to a height of 100 to 150 ft.
Among other forest trees of economic importance are the silk-cotton tree (Bombax ceiba), the Palo de vaca, or cow-tree (Brosimum galactodendron), whose sap resembles milk and is used for that purpose, the Inga saman, the Hevea guayanensis, celebrated in the production of rubber, and the Altalea speciosa, distinguished for the length of its leaves.
The silk-cotton tree (Bombax ceiba), miomba, tamarisk, copal tree (Hymenaea courbaril) are frequent, besides sycamores, banyan trees (Ficus indica) and the deleb palm (Borassus aethiopum).
The natural and forest products of Mexico include the agave and yucca (ixtle) fibres already mentioned; the " ceibon " fibre derived from the silk-cotton tree (Bombax pentandria); rubber and vanilla in addition to the cultivated products; palm oil; castor beans; ginger; chicle, the gum extracted from the " chico-zapote " tree (Achras sapota); logwood and other dye-woods; mahogany, rosewood, ebony, cedar and other valuable woods; " cascalote " or divi-divi; jalap root (Ipomaea); sarsaparilla (Smilax); nuts and fruits.
A great part of Ashanti is covered with primeval and almost impenetrable forest.1 Many of the trees, chiefly silk-cotton and hardwood, attain splendid proportions, the bombax reaching a height of over 200 ft., but the monotony is oppressive, and is seldom relieved by the sight of flowers, birds or beasts.
Forest Products.-The forest and other natural products include rubber, cinchona bark, ivory-nuts, mocora and toquilla fibre for the manufacture of hats, hammocks, &c., cabaya fibre for shoes and cordage, vegetable wool (Bombax ceiba), sarsaparilla, vanilla, cochineal, cabinet woods, fruit, resins, &c. The original source of the Peruvian bark of commerce, the Cinchona calisaya, is completely exhausted, and the " red bark " derived from C. succirubra, is now the principal source of supply from Ecuador.
The dense forests also contain many varieties of lianas or rubber vines, huge bombax and bamboos.
The coastlands of Natal and Portuguese East Africa, the vegetation is abundant, and mangroves, palms, baobab and bombax trees flourish.
In the tropical zone large figs abound, Terminalia, Shorea (sal), laurels, many Leguminosae, Bombax, Artocarpus, bamboos and several palms, among which species of Calamus are remarkable, climbing over the largest trees; and this is the western limit of Cycas and Myristica (nutmeg).
The market-place is shaded by a fine avenue of bombax and other wide-spreading trees.
The bombax or silk-cotton tree attains gigantic proportions in the forests, which are the home of the indiarubber-producing plants and of many valuable kinds of timber trees, such as odum (Chlorophora excelsa), ebony, mahogany (Khaya senegalensis), African teak or oak (Oldfieldia africana) and camwood (Baphia nitida).
Among the noticeable Dicotyledons are the Myricaceae, Proteaceae, Laurineae, Bombax, the Judas-tree, Acacia, Ailanthus, while the most plentiful forms are the Araliaceae.