414 NATURAL SCIENCE. Jone, 
A great many forest-trees have greenish-white or green flowers. 
These are, of course, very inconspicuous at all times, but they by no 
means eclipse those with showy flowers. Rarely do even two or three 
of a species come together, so that there will be always some of the 
more conspicuous even in a small area. When we mention that the 
predominant natural order is the Leguminose, it will be seen at once 
that there can be no scarcity of flowers. This family is a host in 
itself, the various forms of Papilionaceew, Czesalpinee, and Mimoseze 
all combining to make an interesting and showy collection. Then 
there are the monkey pots (Lecythidez), all of which have large and 
highly-coloured blossoms; but the most conspicuous tree is, un- 
doubtedly, the etabally (Vochysia), which, during the season, is a 
canopy of gold, the result of flocks of sulphur-coloured butterflies. 
It is unnecessary to give a list of the different families which 
make up the forest flora. They are so numerous and varied, so 
different from anything in the European woods, as to be most striking 
to the ordinary observer, and a continual source of interest to the 
botanist. It is, however, their beauty of foliage which compels atten- 
tion at first; the shapes and sizes of their leaves, their luxuriance, 
and their continual struggle to occupy every little patch of sunlight 
to the exclusion of all others, which prevents the forest from ever 
becoming dull or monotonous. 
Book illustrations rarely give any adequate representation of 
forest scenery. If they are not conventional they are generally 
almost caricatures. Artists have attempted to picture some of the 
most striking peculiarities, but even they only observe the superficial. 
Appun’s illustrations in ‘‘ Unter den Tropen” (Jena, 1871) are among 
the best, and as nearly true to life as a draughtsman can make them ; 
but in the whole series there is hardly a flower, this proving that the 
artist was impressed by the foliage almost to the exclusion of 
everything else. 
In paddling up a creek the canopy of forest-trees is so far over- 
head as to be out of the line of sight. Every bend brings into view 
a new scene. Clumps of graceful palms, masses of gigantic creepers, 
jungles of tree-ferns intermingled with the contrasted foliage of 
marantas and heliconias, and great aroids which climb almost every 
tree or perch on their branches, all combine to leave an impression 
of rampant vegetation which eclipses the most gaudy assemblage of 
flowers. | 
But, with all this, flowers are not wanting. Great bunches of 
yellow bignonias, dipladenias, allamandas, scarlet noranteas, com- 
bretums and cacoucias, with spikes which glow like fire in the 
sunlight, a hundred species, of various shades, from rosy crimson to 
purple; and last, but by no means least, the tubular Cinchonacee 
and other white flowering plants, the clusters of which often show up 
quite prominently against the dark background of foliage. Some 
of those with lurid flowers are by no means inconspicuous. The 
