ABSTRACT
The general characteristics of tropical rain forest are so distinct that it has been possible to recognise it as a distinct plant formation-type and to map its potential distribution relatively accurately. The same cannot be said for those forest communities to which tropical rain forest gives place where seasonal drought is experienced. Nevertheless there are obvious similarities in structure between those tropical seasonal forests found in America, Asia, Australasia and Africa so that a tentative classification on very broad lines can be attempted. The separate formation-types recognised here, because their distributions are known only imperfectly, can only be shown as a single category on small-scale maps however (Appendix I).
