Abstract

The Nilgiris abound in beautiful jungles, the sholas as one familiarly calls them, rich in natural vegetation. The vegetation on the hills are partly responsible for the heavy rains on these hills during the monsoon season, the conservation of soil and above all for the beautiful climate of the place. The climate is often compared to an "English summer at its best and is probably the most equable in the world". The flora of the Nilgiris vary according to the different elevations. Lower down we have the tropical and sub-tropical, rich and diversified vegetation made up of a host of overgreen species of Acanthacea, Euphorbiaceæ, Guttiferæ, Myrtaceæ, Rubiaceæ, Orchidaceæ and Scitaminæ among other members of various phanerogams. Dense growth of Ochlandra travancorica, Gam., are found in many places. Along the banks of streams a wealth of tree forms, tropical ferns, mosses and liverworts abound. Cycas representing the Gymnosperms are also quite common. As one goes higher up he is struck with the change in vegetation, the whole panorama now being one of temperate regions, with ferns, liverworts and mosses, the cryptogamic types as well as the phanerogamic types being all of temperate regions excepting a few odd species which are of cosmopolitan nature

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