2 5 8 



ZONES AND REGIONS [Pt. Ill, Sect. I 



the year. According to Schomburgk, in British Guiana 172 dicotyledonous and 

 36 monocotyledonous plants flower throughout the year. 



In Schomburgk's catalogue of the Flora of Guiana the Dicotyledones of the 

 forest-district only are considered, because the Monocotyledones are nearly all 

 herbaceous. The relations between climate (Georgetown) and flowering period 

 are shown in the following table : — 



CLIMATE AND FLOWERING SEASONS IN BRITISH GUIANA. 



The wettest months, May, June, July, and December, are poor in flowers when 

 compared with the moderately moist months January, February, and April, and 

 with the dry months September and October. The poverty of blossom in March 

 cannot be attributed to the climate. 



4. THE CAESALPINIACEAE IN THE BOTANIC GARDEN 



AT BUITENZORG. 



As an example of the bewildering phenomena associated with periodicity 

 in the tropics, the following extracts are given from my note-book regard- 

 ing the Cacsalpiniaceac in the botanic garden at Buitenzorg: — 



November 11, 1889. Although the family is one of those that possess 

 a large number of periodically deciduous trees, yet nearly all the trees are 

 more or less in leaf The section stands out from a distance as a mass 

 of foliage in several shades of green. On examining it more closely one 

 sees for the first time a picture to which no European garden can afford 

 an analogy — a peculiar intermingling of all seasons. 



From the midst of the mass of foliage formed by the majority of the 

 trees, others stand out bare and leafless. To the latter belongs one of 

 two specimens of the Brazilian Schizolobium excelsum, which however 

 bears one quite young sterile branch in leaf, whilst the other branches 

 possess inflorescences but are leafless. The other tree is in full foliage 

 and bears some old fruits. In its home in South Brazil the tree is bare 

 of leaves during winter and blossoms at its conclusion. 



Few trees are in a condition comparable with that of our own trees. 

 Among such trees are Phanera maculata and P. Richardiana, which, with 

 their quite young foliage and their large rosy-red flowers, present a picture 

 of spring. Near them stand several tall trees, Hymenaea Courbaril and 

 H. verrucosa, whose appearance may be described as autumnal : the soil 

 beneath them is thickly covered with dead leaves ; their foliage is for the 



