Chap. II] PERIODIC PHENOMENA IN THE TROPICS 247 



the notion derived from it, that the vine has become evergreen, in the same 

 sense as a silver-fir, is most probably incorrect. 



I have had an opportunity of studying closely the periodic phenomena 

 exhibited by trees from the temperate zones in a climate that may be 

 reckoned as the most uniform in the world, namely, in the constantly 

 humid and cool mountains of West Java. The botanic garden at Tjibodas, 

 situated at about 1,500 meters above sea-level, contains woody plants from 

 Europe, from temperate Asia, and from North America, which at home are 

 leafless during winter, but here, like the far-famed vine of Cumana, have 

 become ' evergreen.' I studied them in December and January, that is to 

 say at a time when they would have been leafless under their own natural 

 conditions ; they were, however, all well provided with foliage, and in some 

 cases with flowers and fruit. These trees have nevertheless retained their 

 periodicity, but the individual branches have become more or less completely 

 independent of one another, so that at the time of my visit many trees were 

 simultaneously bearing winter, spring, summer, and autumn shoots, and 

 the remaining trees, at least most of them, had branches presenting the 

 appearance characteristic of two seasons of the year. 



In young trees transplanted into the tropics, the indifference of the rhythmic 

 alternation of foliation and defoliation to the time of the year, and the independence 

 of action on the part of the several systems of shoots, appears only gradually during 

 the course of the year ; the influence of the seasons on the periodic phenomena 

 that has already been experienced persists for a long time, as an after-effect, only 

 to vanish by degrees by the different branches exhibiting dissimilar variations from 

 the original behaviour. 



The north temperate trees cultivated in the garden at Tjibodas, at the time of 

 my visit, so far as my observations went, were as follow : Magnolia Yulan, 

 Magnolia sp., Liriodendron tulipifera, Diospyros Kaki, Pyrus Malus, P. communis, 

 Quercus pedunculata, Rhus succedanea, Olea europaea, Amygdalus communis. 



Magnolia Yulan, for instance, presented the following appearance : some defoli- 

 ated twigs with leaf-buds and sometimes flower-buds ; others with young leaves 

 and open flowers ; still others with full-grown leathery leaves and the dried 

 remains of flowers— there was no fruit formed ; others, again, with a few ' autumn- 

 tinted ' leaves, that fell off easily when touched. 



In Magnolia sp. the ' summer '-twigs bore fruit. The tree, represented by several 

 fine specimens, exhibited a less marked difference in its separate twigs ; these 

 were more dependent on one another. But the individual trees were at different 

 stages of seasonal development. Some were in the array of early spring, with 

 quite young leaves ; others in that of early summer, with still fresh leaves and 

 young fruits ; others again bore ripe fruits and old leaves. 



Liriodendron tulipifera and Quercus pedunculata reflected winter, spring, and 

 summer on their separate boughs. With Pyrus Malus and P. communis, which 

 moreover the climate apparently did not suit, all four seasons were represented 

 on the same little trunk. A shrub of Rhus succedanea was in spring-condition 



