BAOBAB TREES AT MANAAR. 



CHAPTER XII. 



GIANT TREES AND CHARACTERISTIC FORMS OF TROPICAL VEGETATION. 



General Eemarks — The Baobab — Used as a Vegetable Cistern — Arborescent 

 Euphorbias — The Dracaena of Orotava — The Sycamore— The Banyan— The 

 sacred Bo-Tree of Anarajapoora — The Teak Tree — The Saul — The Sandal 

 Tree— The Satinwood Tree— The Ceiba— The Mahogany Tree— The Mora- 

 Bamboos — The Guadua — Beauty and multifarious Uses of these colossal 

 Grasses — Firing the Jungle — The Aloes — The Agave americana — The 

 Bromelias — The Cactuses — The Mimosas — Bush-ropes — Climbing Trees — 

 Emblems of Ingratitude — Marriage of the Fig Tree and the Palm — Epiphytes — 

 Water Plants — Singularly-shaped Trees — The .Barrigudo — The Bottle Tree — 

 Trees with Buttresses and fantastical Roots — The Mangroves — Their Import- 

 ance in Furthering tlie Growth of Land-Animal Life among the Mangroves— 

 * Jumping Johnny ' — Insalubrity of the Mangrove Swamps — The Lum Trees with 

 formidable Spines. 



WHEREVER in the tropical regions periodical rains sa- 

 turate the earth, vegetable life expands in a wonderful 

 variety of forms. In the higher latitudes of the frozen 

 north, a rapidly evanescent summer produces but few and rare 

 flowers in sheltered situations, soon again to disappear under 

 the winter's snow ; in the temperate zones, the number, 

 beauty, and variety of plants increases with the warmth of a 

 genial sky ; but it is only where the vertical rays of an equa- 

 torial sun awaken and foster life on humid grounds that ever- 

 youthful Flora appears in the full exuberance of her creative 

 power. It is only there we find the majestic palms, the elegant 



