TORREYA 



June, igi*,. 

 Vol. 15 No. 6 



BOTANICAL SKETCHES FROM THE ASIATIC 

 TROPICS 



By Henry Allan Gleason 

 (Continued from May Torreya) 



II. The Philippines 



We arrived in Manila on October 6, 1913, and went out by 

 rail the next day to Los Banos, the site of the College of Agri- 

 culture, as the guests of Dr. Frank C. Gates, of the department 

 of botany of that institution. 



The ride from Manila out to Los Banos is interesting botan- 

 ically, because it gives one a general impression of tropical vege- 

 tation and scenery without bewildering one with details. Al- 

 ways in the background, on one side or both, are mountains, 

 covered completely with forest, or with alternating areas of 

 forest and grassland. When the railway comes closer to the 

 mountain side, as it does near Los Banos, one can get a general 

 idea of the external appearance of the tropical forest. Two 

 features are at once obvious in which it differs from the forests 

 of the temperate zone. One of these is the prevailing color of 

 the bark, grays and light browns instead of the dark colors of the 

 temperate zones. The other is the irregular height of the trees, 

 occasional specimens projecting their crowns far above the gen- 

 eral level of the forest. 



In some places on the way out, also, the railway passes through 

 large fields of grassland, of the same type as those seen at a dis- 

 tance on the mountain side. These are entirely uncultivated and 

 uninhabited, and are unused except for pasturage for small droves 

 of cattle. They are monopolized by the notorious cogon grasses, 



[No. 5, Vol. IS of Torreya comprising pp. 93-116, was issued 29 June, 1915 



117 



