206 GIGANTIC LEAVES. 



habitat, these great leaves are replaced by others, 

 certainly not exceeding one fourth of their size. So 

 remarkable is this difference, that at first sight it is 

 not easy to believe that they belong to the same kind 

 of tree. 



Now, why is this? The answer we believe to be 

 very simple ; and we venture to look upon this as 

 another of those wise provisions of nature to prevent 

 the destruction of the aged monarchs of the forests by 

 storms. It is easy to see, if the great trees were still 

 covered over their whole extent by these large leaves, 

 they would be unable to withstand the fury of the 

 gales, which in the form of cyclones visit at intervals 

 almost every part of the intertropical regions. Kind 

 Nature, therefore, takes the veteran of the forests under 

 her protecting care, and as the cautious seaman does 

 at sea, she shortens sail, by dwarfing the foliage, and 

 shortening the shoots, rendering the latter thicker and 

 more wiry, while each leaf presents a lesser surface 

 for the wind to act upon; but at the same time the 

 foliage sets more closely together upon the shortened 

 shoots, and so increases the umbrageous shelter thrown 

 upon the ground below. 



The gigantic leaves seen in the tropics, of which 

 the Banana forms a prominent example, are mostly 

 grown on herbaceous plants, or else upon creepers. 

 The Palmacese form, however, notable exceptions to 

 this rule. The largest leaves in the world are pro- 

 bably those of palm trees; but if this be so, Nature 

 takes care to limit their wind-catching effects by only 

 having a few of them growing upon the tree at the 

 same time. As the old leaves mature, they dry off, 

 and fall from the tree, leaving a long clean stem en- 



