Chap. IV] TROPICAL DISTRICTS CONSTANTLY MOIST 307 



in the virgin forest are as a rule oblong, more or less ovoid in shape, 

 or very irregular. 



In the careful descriptions of Koorclers and Valeton 1 , the form of the crown 

 is given in the case of the majority of the trees described. In nearly all trees of 

 the evergreen forest of Java this is described as ovoid, or irregular. Trees with 

 umbrella-shaped or flattened 

 hemispherical crowns are re- 

 presented by Parkia biglobosa 

 (commoner in thin deciduous 

 forests), Tarrietia (a rare forest 

 giant with a somewhat flattened 

 crown), Dysoxylum mollis- 

 simum (a rare forest giant 

 reaching 58 meters in height, 

 with an irregular umbrella- 

 shaped crown), and Cedrela 

 febrifuga (a forest giant with 

 a hemispherical crown, also 

 occurring in thin deciduous 

 forests). 



The trees of the tropical 

 rain-forest are far less 

 branched than those of 

 forests in temperate zones. 

 Many tropical trees remain 

 quite unbranched, for in- 

 stance tree-ferns, cycads, 

 palms, and many small 

 dicotyledonous trees, such 

 as Carica Papaya, species 

 of Theophrasta, and Ara- 

 liaccae. Many commence 

 to branch only when they 

 are two or more meters in 

 height and have a stem 

 as thick as one's fist, as 

 in species of Albizzia. 

 Schizolobium and other 



Leguminosae, Cecropia, and the like ; the branches that appear subse- 

 quently either remain unbranched, or produce merely a few simple lateral 

 axes (Figs. 144, 145). Frequently, even in very lofty trees, only three 

 grades of branches occur, for instance in species of Strombosa, Cinchona. 



1 Koordcrs en Valeton, op. cit., I— II I. 

 X 2 



Fig. 145. Averrhoa Bilimbi. A tree-like oxalidaceous 

 plant, about 8 meters high, in the botanic garden at Buitenzorg. 

 From a photograph. Reproduced from Fngler and Prantl's 

 Die natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien. 



