Vegetation of Southeast Asia Studies of Forest Types 1963-1965

Ratanaprasidhi, M. Forewt- Industries and Forestry of Thailand. 31 PP«
Royal Forest Department, Ministry of Agriculture. Bangkok. 1963.
(Mimeographed)
The forests of Thailand are the source of raw materials for
various industries. They aay be classified into two main categories:
major and minor forest products.
The first part of the paper is devoted to the major forest products
and treats with timber exploration, production of plywood
and veneer, chip board, manufacture of furniture, pulp and paper,
and miscellaneous industries. The second part deals with minor
forest-products, such as bamboos, rattan, barks, tree exudates and
dye plants. The third part treats with export and domestic consumption.
The fourth and fifth parts discuss forestry and related
problems; and a short treatment of forest protection.
Raunkiaer, C. The Life Forms of Plants and Statistical Plant Geography.
The Use of Leaf-Size in Biological Plant Geography, pp. 368-376.
The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1934.
It has Icnf; been known that a series of different adaptations
in the structure of plants enable them to endure excessive evaporation,
and thus allow them to live in an environment wit.h intense
evaporation, or where conditions for absorption of water from the
ground, either physically or physiologically, are favorable. Examples
of such structure are: (l) covering of wax; (3,) thick cuticle;
(3) sub-epidermal protective tissue; (4) water tissue; (5) cover*.
ing of hairs; (6) covering of the stomata; (7j sinking nf the
stomata; (8) inclusion of the stomata in a space protected from air
currents; (9) diminution of the e 1 aporating surface; etc.
The subject is so complicated that it is difficult to reach an
exact appraisal of these adaptations in characterizing individual
plant communities biologically. The fact is that in a community
which survives dry periods., some species are adapted to their environment
in one way, others in different ways. We are still unable
to determine quantitatively the value of individual adaptations or
the different combinations of adaptations.
If we examine and compare simple ana compound leaver of plants
with the same life-forms in the same formations, or more properly
in the same layer of the formation, for example the upper layer of
the Deciduos phanerophytic vegetation of woodlands, or the upper story
of the West Indian Evergreen phanerophytic vegetation, it i.-^ found
that compound leaves are on an average much larger than simple
leaves, and which belong to a smaller size class.
Raunkiaer decided on 6 classes: Leptophylls - 25 sq. mm. or
0.000024 sq.mm.; Nanophylls - 9 x 25 equal 225 sq. mm.; Mdcrophylls
- 9 2 x 25 equal 2,025 sq. mm.;' Mesophylls - 93 x 25 equal 18,225
sq. mm.; Macrophylls equal 9 4 x 2p equal 154,025 sq. mm.; and
Megaphylls.
Rawitscher, F., and R.L. Pendletori. Climate of Tropical Forests'and
Savannas. The Natural History Bulletin of The Siam Society 15
(1): 89-111. Sept. 1952.-