THE NEOTROPICAL REGIONS 303 



forest one sees an open semi-arid plain or savanna with Cacti, 

 mesquit, and Agaves, suggesting the semi-deserts of Mexico and 



Arizona. As in those countries there is a dry winter, most of the 

 rain falling in the summer months. 



In the Blue Mountains, the lower rain-forest extends to about 

 2,000 feet elevation and in general is quite like the South American 

 equatorial forest, but is much poorer in palms. Araceae and the 

 showy Heliconias are conspicuous, and ferns are much more abun- 

 dant than in the lowland forest of South America. 



Above this forest is a rain-forest of somewhat mixed character; 

 mingled with laurels and other tropical types are genera common 

 to the forests of temperate America, like walnuts, and Clethra, 

 the latter belonging to the Ericaceae. The yew family is repre- 

 sented by species of Podocarpus, already referred to in connec- 

 tion with the floras of the East Indies and Australasia. 



In the drier hot lowlands are found trees which shed their leaves 

 at certain seasons. Among these are the giant silk-cottons 

 (Ceiba, Bombax), mahogany (Swietenia), and Spanish cedar 

 (Cedrela). An important tree of the hot lowlands is log-wood 

 (Haematoxylon), an extremely valuable dye-wood belonging to 

 the Leguminosae, a family with many representatives in the 

 West Indies, as in other tropical countries. 



The Antilles are less rich in palms than the equatorial forests 

 of the Amazon region, but nevertheless they play an important 

 role in the flora of the larger islands, and include some of the hand- 

 somest members of the order, such as the royal palm (Oreodoxa 

 regia) and the still finer 0. oleracea, the "cabbage-palm" of Ja- 

 maica. The beautiful Euterpe oleracea, so abundant in Guiana, 

 occurs also in Jamaica but is much less common, and the same 

 is true of the genus Bactris. Palmettoes and the spiny-stemmed 

 "groo-groo" (Acrocomia), and fan-palms of the genus Thrinax. 

 are characteristic genera, absent from the Amazonian forest 8. 



The upper rain-forest is characterized by an extraordinary 

 development of ferns, and allied forms, Jamaica probably excel- 

 ling in this particular any other known region of like extent. While 

 the island has an area of only about 4,000 square miles, the great 

 variety of soil, elevation and rainfall induces an unparalleled devel- 

 opment of these plants, the total Dumber of species being nearly 

 or quite 500. 



