soit tia oY oe 9 GER AR Re Bay As: te 
uaa Ix,¢,6 Gates: Pioneer Vegetation of Taal Volcano 401 _ 
Ipomoea triloba, Ipomoea pes-tigridis, Wedelia biflora, besides { 
many weeds, Ricinus communis, Heliotropium indicum, Vernonia ; 
cinerea, Bulbostylis barbata, Datura alba, and Scoparia dulcis. | 
Back of this is a widespread Phragmites association, developed 
above the level of the lake and rapidly being invaded by shrubs, 
Acacia farnesiana and Gliricidia sepium, as well as by the grass 
Saccharum. Farther back the vegetation is largely grass with 
invading shrubs. When the slope begins to be pronounced the 
amount of grass is much less in proportion to the amount of 
woody vegetation. At the foot of the slope are a number of 
bananas, relics of former cultivation. 
West from Mount Mataas-na-golod to Mount Balantoc is 
the north central region, an area essentially vegetated with 
grass, nearly all of which is Saccharum spontaneum, into which 
many shrubs and vines have already come and are rapidly be- 
coming more numerous, so much so that many ridges which 
in October, 1913, were apparently nothing but grass, in April 
of the following year presented a very decided shrubby ap- 
pearance. Two large deltal flats occur in this part of the island, 
both of them sparingly vegetated with the Phragmites associa- 
tion. The development of the strand is very poor, but consider- 
able débris, together with algae, Vallisneria, Pistia, and Cerato- 
phyllum, is continually washed up during the northeast mon- 
soon. In October, 1913, the vegetation in this region had spread 
only about two-thirds of the way to the crater rim and was 
very scattered above one-half way up. By December, in ad- 
dition to the clumps of Saccharum found at one spot on the 
crater rim, there were other clumps near the rim and the vege- 
tation was denser. By April, 1914, there were a considerable 
number of scattered clumps of Saccharum on the outer slope 
clear to the rim. Clumps were frequent above two-thirds of the 
way up (125 meters). Lower down the clumps had become so 
close that they gave the appearance of closed vegetation which 
shrubs and trees were rapidly invading. In this region was 
found a single palm tree, Arenga, and the uncommon moraceous 
Artocarpus nitida. 
The north and northeast slopes of Mount Balantoc were largely 
wooded, although plenty of grass, here Themeda gigantea, was 
mixed with the woody species. The slopes terminate at the lake 
in abrupt bluffs, which are rapidly being eroded by the lake. 
The sinking of the coast has given the lake a better chance to 
eat away the bluffs. The vegetation of the eroding bluffs is 
essentially of trees; that of the face is virtually nil; while at 
