CiiAT. I] charactp:rs of the tropical climate 27,r^ 



genus Paepalanthus, essential constituents of the South American grass- 

 land districts ; and the Coiiniicliuaccac, belonging like the Eriocaulaceae 

 to the Enantioblastac, arc very widely distributed particularly as species 

 of Commelina. 



Several monocotyledonous families that are most prominent in temperate 

 zones, such as Cyperaceae, Juncaccae, Liliaceae, Amaryllidaceae, are for the 



Fig. 123. To the left. Areca Catechu ; to the right, Ravenala madagascarieiisis. From the 

 botanic garden at Singapore. From a jjhotograph by Kiikentlial. 



riost part of merely subordinate importance, except for some not exclusively 

 ropical genera like Smilax, Agave, Fourcroya. 



Dicotyledones '. 



Dicotyledones preponderate considerably over Monocotyledones in the 

 era of the tropics, and the number of their purel)' tropical families is much 



[The grouping of the families is that adopted in Strasburger's Text-book of Botany.] 



