EQUATORIAL VEGETATION 241 



Characteristics of the Larger Forest Trees 



Passing from the general impression to the elements of 

 which the scene is composed, the observer is struck by the 

 great diversity of the details amid the general uniformity. 

 Instead of endless repetitions of the same forms of trunk 

 such as are to be seen in our pine, or oak, or beechwoods, 

 the eye wanders from one tree to another and rarely detects 

 two together of the same species. All are tall and upright 

 columns, but they differ from each other more than do the 

 columns of Gothic, Greek, and Egyptian temples. Some are 

 almost cylindrical, rising up out of the ground as if their 

 bases were concealed by accumulations of the soil ; others get 

 much thicker near the ground like our spreading oaks ; others 

 again, and these are very characteristic, send out towards the 

 base flat and wing-like projections. These projections are 

 thin slabs radiating from the main trunk, from which they 

 stand out like the buttresses of a Gothic cathedral. They 

 rise to various heights on the tree, from five or six to twenty 

 or thirty feet ; they often divide as they approach the ground, 

 and sometimes twist and curve along the surface for a con- 

 siderable distance, forming elevated and greatly compressed 

 roots. These buttresses are sometimes so large that the 

 spaces between them if roofed over would form huts capable 

 of containing several persons. Their use is evidently to give 

 the tree an extended base, and so assist the subterranean 

 roots in maintaining in an erect position so lofty a column 

 crowned by a broad and massive head of branches and foliage. 

 The buttressed trees belong to a variety of distinct groups. 

 Thus, many of the Bombacese or silk-cotton trees, several of 

 the Leguminosse, and perhaps many trees belonging to other 

 natural orders, possess these appendages. 



There is another form of tree, hardly less curious, in 

 which the trunk, though generally straight and cylindrical, is 

 deeply furrowed and indented, appearing as if made up of a 

 number of small trees grown together at the centre. Some- 

 times the junction of what seem to be the component parts 

 is so imperfect that gaps or holes are left by which you can 

 see through the trunk in various places. At first one is dis- 



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