54 



The Medium 



Photo from J. H. Welsh 

 Fig. 2.13. Buttresses at the base of a ceiba tree near Soledad, Cuba. The great 

 leverage action of the wind, which the buttresses help to resist, can be imagined 

 from the height and size of a similar tree seen in the left background. 



the early part of the hurricane of 1938 when the anemometer indicated 

 a wind velocity of 343 km per hr. The instrument then blew away. 

 The continued pressure of even moderate winds blowing pre- 

 dominantly from one direction frequently produces a training action 

 on the branches of the trees. In addition, branches whipped about 

 by the wind on the exposed side of the trees knock off one another's 



