OPEN CLEARING AND SECONDGROWTH 57 



Photo by W. B. 

 FIG. 18. FLOWERS OF THE GUIANA (ALLAMANDA) 



sometimes covered these plants with ahen bloom, before 

 their own flowers had had time to appear and develop. 



Soon, however, another type of plant appeared with 

 hollow and jointed stems, pushing out fans of fingered leaves, 

 swiftly, wasting no time in branching, but content with a 

 single spike piercing up through strata of grass and reeds, 

 through shrubs and buslies until it had won to the open sky. 

 This was the cecropia or trumpet tree, falsely appearing 

 firm and solid stemmed, but quite dominant during the first 

 few years of the neglected secondgrowth. It formed a 

 pure culture in most places, crowding out, by a monopoly 

 of the sunlight, most other growth. It had many decided 

 qualities, some visible at a glance, others revealed only to 

 those who became intimate with it. It was extremely orna- 

 mental and provided a cool, dense shade. Every section of 



