VI 



EPIPHYTES AND PARASITES 



J.F we compare the beech- woods of Europe with a solemn Gothic 

 cathedral, the tropical forest will remind us of a well-lighted 

 Baroque church, where every pillar bears sculptured figures, and 

 the coloured decorations run up to the ceiling, whence singing or 

 trumpeting angels look down from amidst garlands of flowers. 



For in the well-lighted tropical forest every tree is adorned, at 

 every possible point, with other plants, which often bear magnificent 

 flowers. And since in Europe we know them as hot-house plants, 

 it is really quite natural to compare the forest to a gaily decorated 

 hall. Those plants which affix themselves to other plants are known 

 as epiphytes. They are sometimes called pseudo-parasites, for a genuine 

 parasite sucks the life-blood of its host, and the epiphytes are harmless 

 plants, which merely quarter themselves on their host, and do not 

 harm it in any way. 



Like the lianas, the epiphytes contribute very largely to the 

 peculiar charm of the tropical forest, giving it that strange and alien 

 quality which distinguishes it at the first glance from a European 

 wood. It is true that even our trees are not entirely without guests. 

 In the crotches of the boughs the bark and wood often rot, and seeds 

 wafted thither germinate. In such positions we find such plants as 

 often turn a thatched roof into a garden; above all, the grasses, 

 and willow-herb, and dandelion, and other plants whose seed is 

 wind-borne. 



But fungi, mosses and lichens also grow on our woodland trees. 

 Examine the lichens growing on the trunk of an ash ; you will be 

 surprised by the number of different species. The lichens often paint 

 our trees as prettily, for example, as they have adorned the stately 

 trunks of the alley of Royal palms in the botanical gardens of Rio. 

 There we see a marbling of hundreds of tones, and the eye notes 

 with delight that these majestic stems, which in their noble simplicity 

 remind one of the columns of a Greek temple, are individually 

 beautified as though by the patina of ancient bronzes. 



Since our woods contain only one true parasite, the mistletoe, and 

 no specialized arboreal species of the higher plants, the tropical 

 forest must affbrd conditions for the evolution of arboreal plants 

 which do not exist in a European wood. And we shall not be mis- 



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