100 DR. O. STAPF ON THE FLORA OF MOUNT KINABALU. 
d. Circumpacific Types (types principally developed in the Indo-Malayan region, but 
dispersed through the Boreal regions to America). 
Illicium. Rhus § Venenate. 
Ternstremia. Rhododendron $ Eurhododendron. 
Saurauja. Symplocos $ Lodhra. 
Ilex $ Paltoria, Quercus $ Pasania. 
Perrotettia. Castanopsis, 
Smilax $ Nemezia. 
Some of these types extend considerably north into the temperate regions, and where 
they range south of the Equator they certainly converge to the north. They are at the 
same time absolutely absent from Tropical Africa and the Austral-Antarctic region. 
Illicium, Rhus § Venenate, Castanopsis, and Smilax $ Nemexia are not known to extend 
east or south-east of Borneo, and only Rhododendron $ Eurhododendron and Saurauja 
are represented by a greater number of species in Austro-Malaya. It is very difficult to 
form a more exact idea as to the origin of these types; but we may assume pretty safely 
that they are very old types, which for the most part developed either in the high 
mountains of Tropical East Asia or in higher latitudes, but still in East Asia, whence 
they spread to America. 
2. Boreal Elements. 
The only distinctly Boreal elements in this forest flora are Viola serpens and Phlomis 
rugosa. Viola serpens has a very wide vertical and horizontal range in the Himalaya, 
ascending to 10,000 feet (Kilar Pangi, North-west Himalaya, Watt), and descending to 
3000 feet, but generally ranging from 5000 to 8000 feet. It descends to 4000 feet in 
Ceylon, and it was collected between 4000 and 5000 feet in Moulmein. The habitat on 
Kinabalu is therefore exceptionally low. 1 have seen, however, a specimen from the 
Ulu (upper) Batang Padang River, in the Malay Peninsula, stated to have been collected 
at 400 feet. If this indication of altitude is correct—it might be a slip for 4000 feet 
—it would suggest an extraordinary indifference of this species for climatic conditions. 
But, as the Batang Padang River drains from a mountain-range rising to 5000 and 6000 
feet in altitude, the specimens collected at 400 feet may have been stray individuals 
carried down accidentally from the subtropical or temperate zone of the mountains. 
This capability of coping with almost any conditions of climate, except over-dryness, 
explains sufficiently the intrusion of this Boreal type into the Malayan flora. Phlomis 
rugosa differs comparatively more from its Central-Asiatic and Mediterranean congeners, 
and it does not ascend anywhere much into the temperate zone, being confined to the 
tropical or subtropical zones. Its Boreal origin is nevertheless as certain as conclusions 
regarding the origin of a species drawn from the present distribution of the congeners 
can be. 
3. Austral-Antarctic Elements. 
1 include in this class 16 species which are more or less closely related to elements 
inhabiting the subtropical and temperate parts of Australia and New Zealand. Most of 
