32 
NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
cut simultaneously at two points a few feet apart, 
and the ends of the severed piece held at the same 
height ; then when one end is slightly lowered the 
liquid runs out in a gentle stream, and may be thus 
conveniently drunk. 
Besides the lianas which twine around and 
spread from tree to tree, there are others which 
hang vertically like bell-ropes. These are air-roots 
of epiphytal Aroids and Cyclanths, and, like the 
stems of twining lianas, are often armed with 
prickles or tubercles. As they descend, they send 
forth rootlets from the point, which finally reach the 
ground and fasten themselves therein. 
Epiphytes and Parasites 
This brings us to the consideration of the 
epiphytes and parasites, which roost in the forks 
and on the branches of trees, sometimes in such 
numbers that their foliage and that of the lianas 
quite hide the leaves of the trees whereon they sit 
and hang. The common Ariun maculatum of our 
hedgerows may give an idea of the aspect of the 
Aroids, supposing the leaves to be very much 
magnified, sometimes fantastically jagged or per- 
forated, and in some instances tinged with purple 
or violet beneath ; but some species have long 
lanceolate or strap-shaped leaves, so as to simulate 
certain ferns that grow on trees, not unlike our 
Hart's-tongue fern. The Cyclanths grow, like the 
Aroids, either in enormous tufts or with succulent 
creeping stems ; but they have broad bifid, or 
sometimes fan -shaped, leaves. Along with them 
inhabit multitudes of Bromels, including several 
