IX, ©, 5 Gates: Pioneer Vegetation of Taal Volcano 408 
around small flats on the back of the summit ridge is suggestive 
of the strand, although located far above it. Over the greater 
part of the slopes, and always on the steeper ones, a coarse grass, 
Themeda gigantea, with open well-spaced clumps gives the char- 
acteristic appearance. On the sides of the gullies, bushes may 
frequently be present and on the northwestern side, away from 
the crater, trees of Sterculia foetida, Oroxylum indicum, Albizzia 
procera, Acacia farnesiana, Pithecolobium dulce, and Wrightia 
laniti, up to 4 or 5 meters in height, occur. The general vegeta- 
tion is dense, especially nearer the level of Lake Bombon. A 
number of large tree trunks are strewn about on the north- 
western side of the peak, which in the apparent absence of anay 
(termites) still remain intact. 
The low divide (30 meters) which separates this peak from 
one end of the horseshoe, Mount Balantoc, contains even now 
remnants of the effects of the eruption in the presence of over- 
turned clumps of bamboo and the corner posts of houses. In 
October, 1913, but three clumps of bananas were seen in this 
part of the island and not even a single live clump of bamboo. 
In December, while no bamboos were seen, bananas were a little 
more plentiful and some were in fruit, but in April, 1914, 
bananas were fairly abundant and indicated quite well the posi- 
tions of many of the former houses, while a number of clumps of 
bamboo had grown to nearly their normal height along two of 
the drainage channels not far from the former town, Panipihan. 
To the west on the shore of Lake Bombon and at the foot of 
Mount Binintiang Malaki, the strand was rather well devel- 
oped and a back strand association, Sesbania, was present. 
Between Mount Balantoc and the crater there are two 
basins which almost merge into one. Before the last eruption 
these were two low craters whose bottoms were below sea level, 
but now they are filled to a higher level. Water is retained 
after each rain until it evaporates. The lakes are salty. Around 
them no living plants were found, although seeds were very 
abundant both along the shore and along the stream courses 
leading into them. The seeds of Themeda gigantea, Saccharum 
spontaneum, Acacia farnesiana, and Streptocaulon baum were 
recognizable, and those of many other species were present. 
The region between these lakes and the crater was exceedingly 
scantily vegetated with very well scattered plants of Saccharum 
spontaneum and Ficus indica and with two clumps of Miscanthus 
sinensis. 
The region to the west was plantless even to the shore in 
