THE NEOTROPICAL REGIONS :*<).■> 



In the Blue Mountains at elevations of 3,000-5,000 feel this 



fern-flora reaches its culmination, and ferns form the most conspic- 

 uous features of the vegetation, ranging from stately tree-ferns, 

 40-50 feet high, to tiny filmy-ferns looking more like delicate 

 mosses than like ferns. Nowhere in the world can the student of 

 these beautiful plants find a richer harvest. 



In addition to the true ferns, there are many lycopods or club- 

 mosses, and occasionally one encounters in the stream-beds, 

 groves of giant horse-tails (Equisetum giganteum), suggesting a 

 forest of the coal period. 



The summits of the highest mountains have a sub-alpine flora, 

 composed in part of the usual boreal genera. 



