II 
EQUATORIAL VEGETATION 
241 
Characteristics of the Larger Forest Trees 
Passing from the general impression to the elements of 
which the scene is composed, the observer is struck by the 
great diversity of the details amid the general uniformity. 
Instead of endless repetitions of the same forms of trunk 
such as are to be seen in our pine, or oak, or beechwoods, 
the eye wanders from one tree to another and rarely detects 
two together of the same species. All are tall and upright 
columns, but they differ from each other more than do the 
columns of Gothic, Greek, and Egyptian temples. Some are 
almost cylindrical, rising up out of the ground as if their 
bases were concealed by accumulations of the soil ; others get 
much thicker near the ground like our spreading oaks ; others 
again, and these are very characteristic, send out towards the 
base flat and wing- like projections. These projections are 
thin slabs radiating from the main trunk, from which they 
stand out like the buttresses of a Gothic cathedral. They 
rise to various heights on the tree, from five or six to twenty 
or thirty feet ; they often divide as they approach the ground, 
and sometimes twist and curve along the surface for a con- 
siderable distance, forming elevated and greatly compressed 
roots. These buttresses are sometimes so large that the 
spaces between them if roofed over would form huts capable 
of containing several persons. Their use is evidently to give 
the tree an extended base, and so assist the subterranean 
roots in maintaining in an erect position so lofty a column 
crowned by a broad and massive head of branches and foliage. 
The buttressed trees belong to a variety of distinct groups. 
Thus, many of the Bombacese or silk-cotton trees, several of 
the Leguminosse, and perhaps many trees belonging to other 
natural orders, possess these appendages. 
There is another form of tree, hardly less curious, in 
which the trunk, though generally straight and cylindrical, is 
deeply furrowed and indented, appearing as if made up of a 
number of small trees grown together at the centre. Some- 
times the junction of what seem to be the component parts 
is so imperfect that gaps or holes are left by which you can 
see through the trunk in various places. At first one is dis- 
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