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the comforts of the garden and the luxuriance of the forest 

 together, and it affords a unique opportunity to the botanist. 

 The nearest approach to it is found in the mountain garden at 

 Tjibodas, in Java, but there the elevation is so much higher that 

 a great deal of the tropical luxuriance of the lowlands is lacking. 

 The marvelous richness and luxuriance of such a forest must 

 be seen to be appreciated, and bafifles adequate description. 

 One scarcely enters the forest before he is impressed by the rela- 

 tively great importance of the arborescent flora. The visitor 

 finds himself giving all his attention to the trees, and neglecting 



Fig. 3. Base of a large balete, or strangling fig, showing the anastomosing 

 trunk-roots. 



almost completely the herbaceous plants along the side of his 

 path. The number of species which compose the forest is very 

 large. More than four hundred have been reported from Mt. 

 Makiling. Also they are widely scattered, so that a single small 

 area contains a very large number. In a small arboretum of 

 about seven acres, over two hundred species were found growing 

 naturally. As a result, a group of trees of the same species is 

 seldom found; the nearest neighboring individuals may be and 

 usually are separated by a considerable distance, and the number 

 of species is so large and so confusing that the visiting botanist 

 learns to recognize only a very few of them. These are mostly 



