438 A TEXTBOOK OF GENERAL BOTANY 
Flowers are usually inconspicuous in the forest. This is due 
to the fact that the production of flowers is extended over a 
long period instead of being crowded into a short flowering 
season, and to the fact that as one views the canopy from below 
the flowers are largely hidden by the foliage. 
Tropical forests have been considered as the home of bizarre 
plants. If the large number of species found in tropical forests 

Fic. 492. Base of a tree trunk showing buttress roots 
is taken into consideration, the number of curious species in the 
tropics is probably no greater in proportion to the total num- 
ber present than in other regions. If by curious is meant “ spe- 
cialized,” or different from the great majority of plants, then 
certainly desert vegetation is much more bizarre than is the 
vegetation of the moist tropics. The vegetation of the temperate 
zone, with its deciduous leaves, annual rings of growth, highly 
specialized bud scales, and other features connected with the 
winter season, is much more specialized than is tropical vegeta- 
tion. Moist tropical vegetation contains a greater wealth of 
forms than is found in less favored localities. Among these 
