THE BOTANICAL GARDENS OF CEYLON 



20I 



clear out the trees for a sufficient distance and their " finds " once more 

 become overturned by growing roots or the stems of gigantic climbers. 



So, where jungle is the rule, and clearings have to be protected, 

 it is natural that the botanical gardens should have a patch of jungle. 

 This is situated in the experiment station grounds, but easily reached 

 by the visitor. Here may be seen the native trees of the region in 

 their natural condition and the visitor may get some idea of tropical 

 luxuriance in the large number of species present on even a small tract 

 of ground. It must be said, however, that a visit to this bit of jungle 

 would be, to many visitors, a disappointment, for it is not filled with 

 air plants hanging from the trees nor rendered impenetrable by inter- 

 lacing stems of climbing plants. It is, however, much easier to travel 

 through than the jungles at sea level in districts of great heat aiid 

 humidity. 



The botanist who is interested in ecology — the relation of the plant 

 to its environment — is often on the lookout for field and roadside 

 weeds. In temperate regions, particularly in the western United States, 

 roadside weeds make a constant and striking feature of the landscape. 

 This is not the case, as a rule, in the tropics. Indeed, there are not 

 only rather few weeds, but few flowering herbs of any kind. The 



Fig. 5. A " Screw Pine " ; not a pine at all, but a monocotyledon of the genus Pan- 

 danus. From a photograph by the author. 



