ORCHID COLLECTING STANDLEY 369 



quate explanation for this condition, since even the smoothest bark 

 has irregularities sufficient for the lodgment of orchid and other 

 seeds. 



ATLANTIC COAST 



Over on the Atlantic coast of Costa Rica climatic conditions are 

 very different from those prevailing along the Pacific watershed. 

 Here, although there is some differentiation into dry and wet sea- 

 sons, there is a copious supply of moisture throughout the year. 

 Even in what may be termed the dry season there are frequent 

 heavy rains, so that at all times of the year the atmosphere is satur- 

 ated. Such a condition, associated with a high temperature, affords 

 ideal conditions for the development of truly tropical vegetation, 

 which attains a luxuriance unlaiown in temperate lands. 



The lowlands of the Atlantic coast are characterized by heavy 

 forests, naturally more or less like those of near-by Panama, but 

 here there remain vast stretches still untouched by man. The only 

 breaks in the dense forests that cover this part of Costa Rica are 

 the extensive banana plantations, for which the region is famous, 

 and small patches cleared for cultivation of other fruits and of 

 vegetables. 



Such forests as these satisfy to the fullest extent one's precon- 

 ceived notions of what a tropical forest ought to be. The covering 

 of the tree tops is so dense that no sunshine reaches the ground. 

 Even the rain can not fall directly, and during a heavy shower one 

 may walk for miles without becoming wet. Very large trees, with 

 trunks six feet or more in diameter, are frequent, some of them with 

 fantastically buttressed or otherwise supported trunks. Certain 

 trees, notably the Cecropias, which have always seemed to the writer 

 the most characteristically tropical of all Central American trees, 

 are supported by prop-roots, similar in form to those developing in 

 maize. Large, woody vines are characteristic of these forests, and 

 coarse epiphytes, especially aroids and bromeliads. The ground also 

 is well covered nearly everywhere, mostly with large herbs, among 

 which ferns are usually conspicuous, as well as numerous sorts of 

 palms. Some of these plants have showy flowers, but more often the 

 blossoms are small and inconspicuous. In the heavy lowland forest 

 one may look in every direction and see no sign of color other than 

 the dull, dark, monotonous green that is characteristic of tropical 

 American forests, and quite different from the lighter and livelier 

 green of the forests of the United States. 



There are a good many orchids in this part of Costa Rica, and there 

 must be many undescribed ones, for the region has been little visited 

 by botanists, chiefly because of a wholesome fear of malaria, which 

 is all too prevalent at. such elevations. In the case of other groups 



