68 



flower buds are immersed until the flower opens ready for pollina- 

 tion. There are various ways in which plants store water. The 

 arrangement of bracts in Mendoncia coccinea is a simple, but 

 effective, means of water storage in a tropical liane, which 

 reaches up into the forest trees where desiccation is more likely 

 to occur than lower down, where the dense shade and nearness 

 to the soil creates an atmosphere more nearly saturated with 

 moisture. Shreve has referred to this fact in his study of the 

 distribution of the bromeliads up and down tropical trees in 

 the rain forest of the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. The more 

 xerophytic bromeliads are found near the tops of the trees. 

 The less xerophytic ones grow below. 

 University of Pennsylvania 



