77 
certain Tropical Trees. 
the tender leaves are at least safeguarded by their hanging 
position from damaging effects of sun. 
Another noticeable fact with regard to these tips in 
Amherstia nobilis deserves notice. As the leaf passes 
from its red-brown stage to its full green condition, the 
tips, which were very long in the former stage, become, by 
growth of the leaf, less well marked. Now, in the young 
stage, they cannot, of course, function as c Traufelspitzen,’ 
since by the young leafs position no rain falls directly on it, 
and also, so hairy are the young leaves that a continuous 
stream of water-drops splashed on them does not wet the 
surface — each drop rolling off at the nearest possible point. 
If the acuminate apex is a * Traufelspitze,’ why is the organ 
better developed at a time when it is useless — in the young 
stages, before it can be functional — than later, when the plant 
requires its aid ? 
In concluding this part of the subject, it may be mentioned 
here that the trees Amherstia nobilis , Brownea. grandiceps, &c., 
have not, in the formation of fresh shoots, the exact annual 
periodicity of most trees of temperate climates. So it happens 
in Ceylon that young branches arise all the year round, 
though in far greater numbers during the wet weather of the 
south-west monsoon. Now Potter points out 1 that in those 
branches produced during the comparatively dry and hot 
weather, withering of the young pendent leaves not infre- 
quently occurs. This withering certainly happens frequently 
in the young branches of the Amherstia nobilis trees which 
grow in the Botanical Gardens at Perideniya. On the view 
put forward by Potter, that this hanging habit is a direct 
adaptation to secure protection against the sun’s action, 
this observation certainly shows the need for such protection. 
The branches produced in the dry weather hang as long as, 
or even longer than, those produced during the rains, although, 
on Stahls view, there is no reason why they should. If, then, 
his view be accepted it must be allowed that these trees have 
Loc. cit. 
