a botanist's trip to JAVA. 141 
“ autumnal colors.” Some of the tourists whom I met asked if 
these trees were diseased that they should thus lose their leaves. 
They were much surprised to learn that many tropical trees 
behave in this way, being truly deciduous. It is to be noted, 
however, that the deciduous trees of the tropics do not all drop 
their leaves at the same season of the year. Still all of the 
trees of a given deciduous species become bare at about the 
same time year after year. Deciduous trees are more common 
in countries where there is a distinct dry season. In Buitenzorg 
and throughout western Java the “ dry season ” is dry only in 
name, for even during that period there is considerable precipi¬ 
tation. The total rain-fall for the year is about five meters (191.8 
inches). 
The garden at Buitenzorg is likely to be somewhat disap¬ 
pointing at first sight. It is not arranged as a “ show ” place. 
English people, especially, remark at once the absence of the 
wide lawns which they love so well. Everyone is surprised that 
there are not more showy orchids and beds of flowering herbs. 
But the beauty of a tropical garden is of a different type from 
that of one of our city parks. People quickly learn to prefer the 
less formal garden of the tropics. In Buitenzorg one need not 
feel a lack of orchids and showy flowers. There are orchids 
a-plenty but they are no handsomer than the ones we may see 
any time in our own greenhouses. But besides these conspicuous 
orchids with which we are familiar, there are hundreds, nay 
thousands, of species with smaller or less brilliant flowers. These 
are quite as interesting for their floral mechanism as are their 
more brilliant relatives. The botanist can enjoy reading accounts 
of orchid flowers when he has so many species for examination. 
It is, perhaps, needless to state that the greater part of the 
botanical garden is planted with trees and shrubs, and that only 
a few herbs are represented. The plants of the tropics are mostly 
large and the herbaceous vegetation of comparatively little con¬ 
sequence. There are some plants growing in beds in Buitenzorg 
which we know well in hothouses, such as species of Salvia and 
Lantana and Hibiscus . A handsome plant of the caper family 
is Gynandropsis speciosa. This looks like our own “ bee plant ” 
