A remarkable feature of the Nicobars is the manner in which the general botanical appearance of the islands coincides with the geological division, for, while the southern group (Great and Little Nicobar with Kachal) are wooded from beach to summit, the forests of the other islands are restricted to the plutonic rocks and the slopes and dells of the older alluvium, while the hilly plateaux and ridges are covered with park-like grass heaths. The most prominent features of the flora are, perhaps, the quantities of _Barringtonia speciosa_, which, with their large shiny leaves and beautiful crimson-tipped tassel-like blossoms, grow all along the coasts; the tall screw-pines (_Pandanus larum_), bearing the immense fruits that provide the main food of the natives; and the graceful Nicobar palms (_Ptychoraphis augusta_), which occur in all the forests. Giant bamboos are extremely scarce, but the climbing species (_Dinachloa_) is common everywhere in the jungle, and beautiful tree ferns (_Alsophila albo-setacea_) grow in the forest and along the river banks of the south. A mangosteen (_Garcinia_, sp.) and a cinnamon (_Cinnamomum obtusifolium_) grow wild, as do the pepper vine (_Piper betel_) that supplies the sireh leaf, and the betel palm (_Areca catechu_). These two are also cultivated, and it is said that the latter is not indigenous. The large numbers of milky climbers leads to the hope that some rubber-yielding varieties may be discovered capable of supplying a sufficient quantity of raw material for export. The vanilla orchid occurs, and the southern forests produce quantities of rattan, both as a small variety that is exported, and a large cane two inches or so in diameter, which the natives use for the horizontal rafters in the circular framework of their houses. _Semecarpus heterophyllus_, _Morinda citrifolia_, _Artocarpus lakoocha_, and _A. chaplasha_, _Cordia mixa_, _Mallotus philipenensis_, and _Amomum fenzlii_, may be mentioned specially as species capable of yielding commercial products; but their sparseness, coupled with the fact that it is easier and cheaper to cover the soil with coconuts and areca palms, puts out of the question the possibility of utilising the species to any profit. The Nicobars produce few trees of any commercial value as timber, and those probably not in large quantities: the best of these are _Myristica irya_ and _Terminalia bialata_, and of secondary value in this respect are _Mimusops littoralis_, _Hopea odorata_, _Artocarpus chaplasha_ and _lakoocha_, _Calophyllum spectabile_, _Terminalia procera_ and species of _Garcinias_. Evergreen forest predominates, and mixed forest appears only occasionally, but pure leaf-shedding forest is not met with; and as regards species, there is a marked absence of Dipterocarpus trees. * * * * *