

CH. II 



CLIMATE 25 



In Australia the forest in this zone is generally 

 of an open character, that is, a savannah-forest, and 

 consists largely of Acacias and Eucalypts. The latter 

 are said to be characterised by the largeness of their 

 fruit, which is usually urn- or pitcher-shaped. 1 I am, 

 unfortunately, unable to give a more detailed description 

 of these forests, the economic importance of which, so 

 far, is evidently not considered to be great. It is in 

 these open forests in North Queensland that is found the 

 Myallwood (Acacia homalophylla), the wood of which 

 is scented like violets. The bark of several of the 

 Acacias or " wattles" is largely used for tanning. 



The wet zone is that in which will be found dense 

 forests, mostly evergreen, formed of trees growing 

 with clean boles up to a great height. These forests 

 are those described as " virgin -forests " by early writers, 

 and, in consequence, this term always conjures up a 

 vision of sombre vistas, like the nave of a cathedral, the 

 pillars formed by enormous boles of trees soaring up 

 into the dim and religious half-light caused by the 

 interlacing branches forming the vault of the fane. In 

 Africa, in the Great Congo forest described by Stanley, 2 

 this type is found in its most severe form. Large 

 buttressed trees with clean boles scantily covered by 

 epiphytic growth form the bulk of the crop ; here and 

 there gigantic lianas climb into the soaring crowns of 

 the trees, while smaller growths of shrubs or herbaceous 

 plants are scanty and the eye travels far into the sombre 

 depths of the forest. 



In other parts of the Tropics the architecture, if it 

 may be called so, is more ornate and florid ; the boles 

 of the trees are adorned with epiphytic orchids, ferns, 

 festoons of Lycopodiaceae, climbing plants belonging 

 to the Pandanaceae, Araceae, Piperaceae, Melastomaceae, 

 etc., and numerous lianas climb into the crowns. In 

 some places graceful palms struggle up to the light, 

 while the floor of the forest may be covered w r ith a 



1 Australian Handbook, 1903. 

 2 Darkest Africa. See also Schimper, Plant Geography, ch. iv. 



