TEMPERATURE and RAINFALL at typical locations 
in the Tropic and Subtropic Zones of the World. 
LAT. 
deg. 
NORTH AMERICA 
California, San Diego.................0....-. 32.7 N 
Bloviday Miarmnigeen ee ee 25.8 N 
Mexico, Mexico! City. ..a.n..:. 19.2N 
Mexico mmVieram nize nesses 19.1 N 
WEST INDIES 
Gubaw Habanager. eee ke 23.8 N 
Hattie Portraunbrincesen..sece.- 18.3 N 
PuertoyRicoy sam yuan... 072-1 18.2N 
JAMALCHmLULGStOM esses eee 18.1 N 
CENTRAL AMERICA 
Honditrass belize: sot ene ao N 
Guatemala, Guatemala City ............ 14.3N 
GostaeRicam oan JOsei see 9.5N 
Pewarenaatsh, (Coiesae bene 9.2N 
SOUTH AMERICA 
Wenezuelan Caracas 2.0.2: 10.3 N 
Venezuela, Ciudad Bolivar... 8.9 N 
B. Guiana, Georgetown.................... 6.5N 
@olombiamBogota ce. e 4.4N 
Colombia, Buenaventura ................ 3.5N 
Ecuador, Quito (Sierra)... 0.1S 
Ecuador, Mendez (Oriente).. 2.48 
Brazil, Manaos (Amazonas).............. 3.08 
Brazil) Rio cde Janeiro scr ..snc<-c os 
Brazil eS AON halos nyse eteee 
Peru, Iquitos (Amazon) 
Pex. Limasee eee 
PErit GUzCO pee ee ate coe ee 
Bolivia, La Paz 
Chile, Santiago 
Argentina, Buenos Aires.................. 
EUROPE 
France, Marseilles —........2..22...0.....-- 43.1N 
Lfaly er alermon (Sicily) ec s-.2 sucess 38.1N 
Spain, Seville (Andalusia)... 37.2N 
AFRICA 
opi ded incu Oteb hae) ee eu eee oe eee ee 30.3 N 
Ethiopia, Addis Ababa.................... 9.0N 
GoldiiGoasimeA ccranusrec sain 5.3.N 
Cameroon, Douala ................ eee 450/N 
Equatorial Africa, Brazzaville........ 4.28 
Baste niniGamt NAlLOOl sian cree Nall 
Tanganyika, Amani (Usambara Mts.)4.5 S 
SATU AINA Kel geheNl ay seers recy cetes cece se cee Balas 
Madagascar, Tananarive ................ IES 
Madagascar, Tanatave .......... ies WHERE DS) 
South Africa, Johannesburg............ 26.18 
South Africa, Capetown................. os 
ASIA 
Israel, Haifa ........ cose Seen ene Soe 32.6 N 
Japan, Nagasaki 32.4N 
(Giavigtets NAboghaveyae) aol L Ae yeh aed eeeneeeeene 25.2 N 
China blongkoncy aeecceee cetera 22.1 N 
Sikkim, Manjitar, Rangit R............. 
Sikkim, Darjeeling (Himalayas)...... 
India, Calcutta 
India, Cherrapunji (Assam).............. 
Ihe bigy. 1Xepenl ssh casper eee eet pee 
India, Madras 
Formosa, Keelung (Teipei).. 
Burma, Mandalay ................... 
lehbueeatay, |MEbe felony) coop arena eeeeeee eeeree 
Philippines Baguio senses 
Philippines, Manila ..... x 
Stamm BaItg KOK sescses.ceeeeeccee<iazcrseecezee 
Indo-China, Saigon 
Ceylon, Nuwara Eliya...................... 
Ceylon, Colombo 
Borneo, Sandakan .. 
Ain efx cml Ob al ease eee ee oer 
Malaya, Singapore ..... Tp eee tae 
Java, Jakarta 
Java, Bogor 
New Guinea, Port Moresby.............. 
AUSTRALASIA 
FLA WAIU EL OMOU perros eee 21.2N 
Hawaii, Hilo ............. 19.4 N 
WO LOMTON MIS sae Lill leach terme steno meee ee 9.55 
DITION aN DIA) peerage rate see ceceietiscnstesci as 13.48 
[Gb Moe BRUNA ere rere omc eaters aeeire 18.8S 
Australia, Brisbane (Queensland).. 27.3 S 
New Zealand, Auckland.................... $6.59 
ELEVAT. TEMP. °F. 
feet 
131 
10 
7>79 
52 
min. max. 
<3) 
27 
24 
49 
50 
59 
62 
57 
46 
41 
47 
66 
45 
66 
68 
35 
65 
36 
61 
66 
52 
28 
64 
40 
28 
27 
24 
28 
12 
37 
22 
31 
32 
59 
66 
53 
36 
45 
64 
35 
55 
23 
31 
35 
22 
24 
32 
51 
28 
Bil 
49 
56 
57 
88 
95 
92 
96 
5 
100 
94 
98 
99 
90 
94 
95 
91 
97 
92 
79 
90 
78 
89 
101 
102 
101 
88 
90 
80 
75 
99 
103 
100 
97 
124 
113 
93 
95 
90 
101 
89 
86 
93 
93 
100 
90 
104 
99) 
98 
91 
97 
95 
79 
111 
90 
100 
Wikss 
92 
107 
107 
77 
101 
106 
104 
75 
97 
97 
80 
97 
96 
90 
98 
90 
91 
97 
96 
98 
109 
90 
127 
125 
& BS ESS Re 
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2ST RE oe. _— 
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Schefflera from Java and Caladiums of Brazil in New York 
Climatic Background of Exotic Plents 
Proper environment is the key to successful cultivation of plants 
away from their native homes. As it happens, most of our House 
and Conservatory plants have their origin in the tropics. The 
popular conception of this word visualizes a climate quite 
strange to our North. And yet, we can have, right in New York, 
during our Summer, a temperature and humidity every bit as 
tropical as Jakarta, Java or Belem, Brazil—excepting only for 
the absence of the daily tropical rains. Evidence shows in the 
luxurious growth of Scheffleras from Java and Caladiums of 
Brazil at the Rockefeller Center gardens in the heart of the City. 
Even the intensity of the tropical sunshine has been overesti- 
mated. Only because the unmerciful cold season following for- 
bids it, are we without the visual evidence in the landscape of 
the real tropics, the graceful Palm tree. 
Tropical climate near the Equator changes only very slightly 
from day to day or season to season. At Jakarta, Java, 6 deg. 
south latitude, at 26 feet above sea level, with a mean tempera- 
ture of 80°F. for the year, the daily range averages only 13°F. for 
the whole year. A characteristic feature of the tropics is the daily 
formation of cumulus clouds beginning about 9 a.m., growing 
denser and darker, till in the afternoon the rains begin to fall. 
As a consequence, the relative humidity is high. In Java, near 
the coast, it lies between a steaming 85-90%. 
Many of our best houseplants come from higher elevations. 
Though in the tropic zone, temperatures at increasing altitude 
on tropical mountains are identical with temperatures at sea 
level in latitudes correspondingly more distant from the Equa- 
tor. Generally speaking, for every 1000 feet in elevation, the 
temperature drops 3°F. as compared with that at sea level. The 
mean temperature at sea level near the equator is 81°F. At 2000 
to 4000 feet elevation near the equator or latitude zero the aver- 
age may be 75°F., which corresponds with a similar mean tem- 
perature at latitude 15 to 23 at sea level; the 70° average in 
altitudes from 4000 to 6000 feet on the equator, is 70° also at lati- 
tude 23 io 34 at sea level; and 66° on 6000-8000 foot mountains 
at the equator would find the same temperature at sea level at 
latitude 34 to 45. 
Thus, by pinpointing climate in different parts of the world at 
various altitudes, it should be comparatively easy to understand 
the temperature requirements of exotic plants from these far- 
away places when transplanted to our northern homes. 
S 
