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PLANT GEOGRAPHY 451 
continents. Where the rainfall is abundant during the wet season 
well-developed forests occur, but the vegetation is not so luxu- 
riant as in the constantly moist regions. During the dry season 
the foliage is largely shed, the degree of defoliation depending 
on the severity of the season. Over large areas the loss of leaves 
is never uniform, as along watercourses trees retain their foliage 
throughout the year. Except when the dry season igs extreme 
= 

Fra. 506. View in elfin mossy forest near summit of Mount Maquiling, 
Philippine Islands 
Note how the trunks, branches, and aérial roots are covered with festoons of 
mosses 
occasional evergreen trees occur. During the dry season the 
monsoon forests do not present as lifeless an aspect as do decid- 
uous temperate forests in the cold season, as the dry season is 
preéminently the time of flowering. 
Monsoon forests resemble the deciduous forests in temperate 
regions in being of lower stature than tropical rain forests. They 
are also similar to the temperate-zone deciduous forests, and 
