VEGETATION OF THE RAIN-FOREST. 31 



WINDWARD SLOPES. 



On emerging from a ravine and climbing onto its slopes a number of 

 notable changes in the vegetation are encountered at once; the stature 

 of the forest is much less, varying from 30 to 50 feet (9 to 15 meters), 

 and its canopy is much more open. The trees exhibit a striking diver- 

 sity in trunk diameter, and all but the youngest have a down-hill 

 inclination which brings many of the oldest into a nearly horizontal 

 position. The leaning trees and downfallen trunks bring the epiphytic 

 vegetation into the lower layers of the forest, and not infrequently 

 colonies of bromeliads and epiphytic orchids may be found on the 

 ground, rooted on the rotting remains of the trunk with which they 

 fell. A more dense undergrowth and a more sparse herbaceous terres- 

 trial vegetation characterize the slopes in comparison with the ravines, 

 and the number of Pteridophytes is also much less, the climbing and 

 epiphytic species being more observable, by reason of here occupying 

 a place nearer the floor of the forest. The hanging mosses are absent, 

 and the tree-ferns less frequent, at the same time that the thicket- 

 forming ferns begin to be encountered. 



The Windward Slopes vary in their character, according as they are 

 nearer the bottom of a valley or nearer a ridge, and indeed the vegeta- 

 tion of the slopes is little more than a mean between the pronouncedly 

 hygrophilous ravines and the open sub-alpine ridges. The slopes which 

 lie just below gaps are similar to ravines, as may be noted to the north 

 of Portland Gap and New Haven Gap, depressions in the main ridge 

 through which clouds are rolling almost continuously. 



The forest of the Windward Slopes is made up predominantly of 

 Clethra occidentalis, Podocarpus urbanii, Vaccinium meridionale, Cyrilla 

 racemiflora, Ilex montana var. occidentalis, Alchornea latifolia, and Bru- 

 nellia comocladifolia. These vary from place to place in their relative 

 abundance, but their order as above given is approximately that of 

 their frequency of occurrence. With them and much less frequent are 

 Hedyosmum arborescens, Clusia havetioides, Nectandra patens, Hcemo- 

 charis hcematoxylon, Rhamnus sphcerospermus, Eugenia marchiana, 

 Rapaneaferruginea, Weinmannia pinnata, and Cleyera theoides. A few 

 under-trees and shrubs that are particularly common are Mecranium 

 purpurascens, Tamonea rubens, Tournefortia cymosa, Palicourea crocae, 

 Acalypha virgata, H&mocharis villosa, Lisianthus latifolius, and the tree- 

 ferns Cyathea furfuracea, Cyathea insignis, and the large-leaved but 

 acaulescent Alsophila quadripinnata. 



The distinctly terrestrial herbaceous plants of the slopes are few as 

 compared with the downfallen epiphytes, comprising conspicuously 

 Pteris longifolia, Blechnum capense, Polystichum denticulatum, the broad- 

 leaved grass Olyria latifolia, the sedges Rynchospora eggersiana and 

 Uncinia hamata, together with Pilea parietaria, Lobelia assurgens, Pepe- 

 romia basellcefolia, and Lycopodium reflexum. Among the downfallen 



