856 A TEXT-BOOK OF BOTANY 
of bare forest or of forests just putting out leaves. Leaves 
are continually being shed and formed, but the trees always 
appear in full foliage. (2) The density of growth is remark- 
able, resulting in a gigantic jungle, with plants at every 
level, interlaced by great vines and covered by perching 
plants. (3) Such forests display not only an immense num- 
ber of individual plants, but also an extraordinary num- 
ber of species. (4) The various devices for shedding the 
abundant rain from the leaves give to them a very charac- 
teristic appearance. Prominent among them are the gut- 
ter-pointed leaves, the tip being prolonged as a sort of 
spout and the veins depressed, the whole surface of the leaf 
resembling a drainage system (Fig. 320). 
