Pterocarpus, Anogeissus, Chloroxylon, Lagerstrœmia and Adina already mentioned as occurring further south. In the Pólavaram division, besides the above, teak (which never occurs in Yellavaram) is also met with. It may be said generally, however, that although these forests contain large timber trees, these are usually either unsound or situated in inaccessible places. The bulk of the crop consists of small growth which, owing to its distance from a market, is valueless either as fuel or timber.
The chief fruit-trees are the tamarind, gall-nut and ippa, and these forests also contain a quantity of the thin kind of bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus) which is largely used for sugar-cane props.
The Rampa forests, being unreserved, have been less studied than the others. They are in a worse condition than those of Yellavaram and Pólavaram, since unrestricted fellings are permitted for pódu cultivation, and their remoteness renders the extraction of any timber both difficult and costly. Small quantities are removed on permits by consumers on their borders, and the bamboos in them, which include quantities of both Bamhusa and Dendrocalamus, are also utilized similarly.
The forests in Bhadráchalam may be divided into (l) the Rékapalle or Xylia range, (2) the Marrigúdem or teak range, and (3) the Bhadráchalam range, of which three-quarters consists mainly of teak and one-quarter of Hardwickia binata. Besides these predominant and more valuable species, large quantities of other timber trees are found, among which are the Terminaia, Pterocarpus, Adina, Anogeissus and Lagerstrœmia already mentioned above, and likewise Dalbergia latifolia and Terminallia Arjuna. In the Bhadráchalam and Marrigúdem ranges, the teak, Xylia and Hardwickia are either comparatively young or unsound, the best trees having been felled in past years. The same is true of the less valuable species.
The best forest left is that in the inaccessible Rékapalle hills. For this a working plan1[1] has been recently framed. The examination of the growth made in connection with this showed that over a fifth (sometimes nearly one-half) of the crop consisted of Xylia, that Hardwickia was very rare, that, among the inferior timber trees Lebedieropsis orbicularis was prominent, and that the rest of the forest was mainly made up of the trees already mentioned as prevalent in this part of the district, together with Albizzia odoratissima and A. procera.
- ↑ 1 See B.P., Forest No. 222, dated 30th July 1902.
