33 8 MESOPHYTES SECT, xvi 



that the plant is capable of producing much more food than European 

 dicotylous trees can ; hence the rapidity of growth and the huge dimen- 

 sions of many tropical trees. 



Mesophytic evergreen forest is represented by : 



Antarctic forest. 

 Subtropical rain-forest. 

 Tropical rain-forest. 



There are also several special kinds of forest produced by certain 

 tropical plant-types, such as palm-forest and fern-forest. 



ANTARCTIC FOREST 



Antarctic forest is known to us through the descriptions supplied by 

 Darwin, J. D. Hooker, and Dusen. 1 It extends from a latitude of 36 S. 

 in southern Chile to Tierra del Fuego, where it clothes the country from 

 the sea up to the altitude of 1,700 to 2,000 metres on the western side 

 of the mountain-chain. The climate shows a low annual mean tempera- 

 ture, which is 5 to 7 C., and only a difference of about 9 C. between 

 the mean temperatures of winter and summer respectively ; but the rain- 

 fall is very great, and is distributed over nearly all months of the year. 

 Under these conditions there is developed extremely luxuriant forest. 

 In the northern districts this forest includes a great abundance of lianes 

 and epiphytes, as well as underwood in which tree-ferns and bamboos 

 play a part, and thus passes over into sub-tropical rain-forest. Towards 

 the south this character is lost, yet the forest is dark-green throughout 

 the year. Beech is the common forest-tree, and includes the evergreen 

 species Nothofagus betuloides, N. Dombeyi, and N. nitida, in addition 

 to species of the same genus that are leafless in winter. The leaves of 

 these beeches are small and myrtle-like, but numerous ; consequently 

 their general appearance is utterly different from that of Fagus sylvatica. 

 In addition to the beeches, Coniferae (Libocedrus tetragona), Drimys 

 Winteri, Myrtaceae, and Proteaceae, supply forest-trees. 



The buds are protected by scales. The forest is deeply shady and has 

 but little underwood. As epiphytes Hymenophyllaceae and other ferns 

 occur, but lichens are sparse. The ground of the forest is clothed with 

 a dense, uninterrupted carpet of water-soaked mosses and liverworts, 

 among which Hymenophyllaceae grow. This type of forest ecologically 

 stands nearest to spruce-forest. The evergreen character of the foliage 

 must be ascribed to brevity of the warm season. 2 



Antarctic beech-forest occurs on the mountains of New Zealand as 

 well as in Patagonia. 



From a floristic standpoint it is noteworthy that side by side with 

 Nothofagus (which is closely related to Fagus) there grow social trees 

 belonging to Proteaceae, Myrtaceae, Podocarpus, Libocedrus, Fitzroya 

 patagonica (a huge coniferous tree), as well as other tropical and austral 

 types ; parasitic on the beech-trees are species of Myzodendron. Forests 

 in New Zealand show a strong floristic likeness to Patagonian forest. 3 



* C. Darwin, 1845; J. D. Hooker, 1847 ; Dusen, 1898-1908. 

 1 Consult Dusen, loc. cit. ; Reiche, 1907 ; Neger, 1897 a and b, 1901 ; Aboff, 

 1902. 8 Cockayne, 1908 a, 19086, and other cited papers; Schenck, 1905. 



