has been with regions in the so-called temperate climates. 

 We lived in a small valley in Honduras for a number of 

 years, a valley perhaps six or seven miles wide and about 

 15 miles long. There are more kinds of native flowering 

 plants in that small valley than in the eastern U.S. of 

 Gray's Manual of Botany. There are possibly more kinds 

 of native trees on don Leo Salazar's Santa Marfa de Ostuma 

 farm in the Cordillera Central de Nicaragua than there 

 are in all the New England states. There is another great 

 difference, too. A hillside in the Berkshires of New England 

 may have relatively great numbers of individuals of two or 

 three or [jerhaps a half dozen species of trees. A hillside 

 covered with cloud forest on the Cordillera Central de Nic- 

 aragua, or in the Cordillera de Talamanca in Costa Rica 

 may have an almost bewildering aggregation of species of 

 trees, but rdatively few individuals of any one species. 



It is a common experience in the tropics to find a tree 

 and to never see another individual of it. Tropical climates 

 have been and are more amenable to the development of 

 numerous kinds of plants, than are the more severe tem- 

 perate climates. The competition for space among suc- 

 cessful kinds of trees in the tropics is very great. There 

 are relatively few kinds of trees in temperate climates that 

 have become really successful, covering large areas geo- 

 graphically and abundant in appropriate habits. However, 

 of the trees of temperate climates that may be said to be 

 successful, some are outstandingly so. One of the con- 

 tributing reasons for this may be that there may be fewer 

 kinds of successful trees and consequently the competition 

 for space is less among the kinds of trees. 



The old saw that "it is difficult to see the forest because 

 of the trees" might be reversed in the tropics. The late 

 Paul Allen, then associated with the United Fruit Company, 

 collected specimens from a very large tree in the rain forest 

 down in the southwestern corner of Costa Rica.* The 

 late Paul Standley and I studied the specimens and, after 

 showing them to many other botanists familiar with trop- 

 ical floras, described a new genus and species based on 

 them. A tree a hundred feet or more tall and 30 inches 

 in diameter must be a rather conspicuous plant yet it was 

 not discovered imtil 1951. How long it will be until another 

 collector finds it and collects it I have no way of knowing, 

 yet Allen said that it was a very conspicuous tree when in 

 flower. 



The Museum has had a continuing interest in the flora 

 of Central .America for more than 75 years. The knowledge 

 so gained is useful and often essential in understanding 

 any other branch of science. In particular, study of the 

 flora and what is happening to it help us to understand the 

 relation of man to his environment in Latin America, and 

 what man is doing to his environment. 



What effect does vegetation have on the production of 



food and on agriculture and on the regional rainfall so 



essential to both plantation and subsistence agriculture? 



* Pentaplaris dorotcae. A design made Jrom the technical illustration 

 of this plant ivas used as a cover design on ^^ Homage to Standley^^ a small 

 book published by the Museum to honor a sta£ member who was one of America's 

 best known botanists. 



What effect does a forest cover have on the climate, and 

 what may be expected to happen if we remove that cover? 

 .Are tropical forests as luxuriant as they appear? If the 

 soil can produce such magnificent forests, why does it not 

 produce an abundance of food? Why are there not paper 

 mills where plant growth is so lush? What effect do tropi- 

 cal diseases have on man in the tropics? Why do most 

 people live in the highlands and shim the lowlands? \Vhy 

 must 80 per cent of Central Americans depend on agri- 

 culture? What about the utilization of water for agricul- 

 ture? Is farm labor cheap or expensive at a dollar a day? 

 Why not increase cattle raising and export meat? These 

 and other questions deal with basic concepts of conservatinn 

 oj natural areas; land tenure practices and the vegetation, and of 

 agrarian laivs and the forests. 



There has been much written in recent years afjoui the 

 population explosion. The rapid increase in the human 

 population of Central .America during this century, and 

 more especially in recent years is bound to have, and docs 

 have, a very profound effect on the vegetation of Central 

 .America and on all the kinds of living things that depend 

 on the natural vegetation. 



It is my feeling, based on field experience in Central 

 .America and Mexico extending through 30 years, that the 

 natural forests of Central .America will all fje gone before 

 the end of this century except in spots too rugged to have 

 any value in agriculture or too difficult to get the trees out. 



The demand for land upon which to grow, or to try 

 to grow, food crops increases in proportion to man's in- 

 crease. The natural forests are being cut at an alarming 

 rate to make way for siibsistance or for plantation crops 

 to satisfy man's immediate need for food. 



Ancient volcanic soils on this mountainside in the Comayagua Valley 

 in Hondtiras erode quickly when the protective forest cover is removed. 

 Agricidtural yield of this type of soil is not high, does not warrant 

 destruction of trees to permit cultivation. 



JULY Pages 



