SHEDDING OF LEAVES 165 



powerful, they hardly strike such leaves at all. In 

 some cases the young leaves are stiff and stand 

 vertically upright, this position having of course the 

 same advantage as regards the sun as the hanging 

 one. This is very clear in FICUS (the Banyan and 

 other species, fig. 40) in BARRINGTONIA, and many 

 other plants. 



3. A great number of trees and shrubs drop all 

 their leaves together, at one time of the year. In 

 Europe and other countries which enjoy a temperate 

 climate and cold winters, this happens during the 

 autumn months, October and November, just before 

 the winter. In India it is often in February, March 

 or April before the hot weather. Such trees and 

 shrubs are called deciduous, to distinguish them from 

 evergreens, which are green all the year round, 

 because some leaves fall and new ones are formed 

 continuously. 



In temperate climates most of the trees are deci- 

 duous, few except those of the Pine family, Gym- 

 nosperms, being evergreen, so that there is a very 

 great difference between the appearance of the country- 

 side in summer when all the trees are in leaf, and in 

 winter when they show only the bare leafless branches. 

 On the other hand, in those tropical districts where 

 there is always plenty of rain, most of the trees are 

 evergreen, and vegetation has much the same appear- 

 ance all the year round. But where there is a season 

 of dry hot weather every year, some at least of the 

 trees are usually deciduous, and bare of leaves during 

 these months, or at least for a few weeks. Common 

 examples of such deciduous trees are ERIODENDRON 



