PDF - Wallace Online

EQUATORIAL VEGETATION 241Characteristics of the Larger Forest TreesPassing from the general impression to the elements ofwhich the scene is composed, the observer is struck by thegreat diversity of the details amid the general uniformity.Instead of endless repetitions of the same forms of trunksuch as are to be seen in our pine, or oak, or beechwoods,the eye wanders from one tree to another and rarely detectstwo together of the same species. All are tall and uprightcolumns, but they differ from each other more than do thecolumns of Gothic, Greek, and Egyptian temples. Some arealmost cylindrical, rising up out of the ground as if theirbases were concealed by accumulations of the soil ;others getmuch thicker near the ground like our spreading oaks ;othersagain, and these are very characteristic, send out towards thebase flat and wing-like projections. These projections arethin slabs radiating from the main trunk, from which theystand out like the buttresses of a Gothic cathedral. Theyrise to various heights on the tree, from five or six to twentyor thirty feet ; they often divide as they approach the ground,and sometimes twist and curve along the surface for a considerabledistance, forming elevated and greatly compressedroots. These buttresses are sometimes so large that thespaces between them if roofed over would form huts capableof containing several persons. Their use is evidently to givethe tree an extended base, and so assist the subterraneanroots in maintaining in an erect position so lofty a columncrowned by a broad and massive head of branches and foliage.The buttressed trees belong to a variety of distinct groups.Thus, many of the Bombacese or silk-cotton trees, several ofthe Leguminosse, and perhaps many trees belonging to othernatural orders, possess these appendages.There is another form of tree, hardly less curious, inwhich the trunk, though generally straight and cylindrical, isdeeply furrowed and indented, appearing as if made up of anumber of small trees grown together at the centre. Sometimesthe junction of what seem to be the component partsis so imperfect that gaps or holes are left by which you cansee through the trunk in various places. At first one is dis-R