Chap. IV] TROPICAL DISTRICTS COxMSTANTLY MOIST 



313 



the crowns of the lii^hcsl trees and clothe their stems most hixiiriantly with 

 long- leaved shoots. The species of Carludovica are less lofty and less 

 vigorous climbers. Yet I saw Carludovica Plumieri pla.\- an imposing,' l^art 

 in the forests of the Lesser Antilles, where as a pronounced shade-plant it 

 enveloped all the stems in the gloom\- forests with its palm-like leaves, 

 between which iirojected its extremely peculiar creamy-white spadiccs 

 decked with long filiform staminodes. Sarcinanthus with one species, S. 

 utilis. is limited to the forests of Central America and Southern Mexico. 



Fig. 153. Sarcinanthus utilis (Cyclanthaceae) climbing on tree-stems of the .South Mexican 

 rain-forest. Province of Chiapas. From a photograph by G. Karsten. 



It is easily recognizable in our Figs. 129, 152, and 153. by its bipartite 

 leaves. 



Among other monocotyledonous lianes, besides those mentioned, the 

 Araceae are in the first rank. The large genera Philodendron, Monstera, 

 Pothos, and some smaller ones, contain a number of tall large-leaved root- 

 climbers, that form one of the most striking features of the tropical rain- 

 forest, particularly in America (Figs. 129, 152). 



The stems of these lianes, like those of Carludovica, produce along their 

 whole length numerous adventitious roots of quite dissimilar anatomical 

 and physiological natures (Figs. 154, ijj). Some are developed as 

 anchoriiig-roots and are relatively short (often 2-3 decimeters, or even le.ss); 

 fhey are markedly negatively heliotropic, so that they press themselves 



