DR. O. STAPF ON THE FLORA OF MOUNT KINABALU. 107 
closely allied to the Kinabalu species, grows in wet and peaty soil in Tasmania, whilst 
others live on sandy ground in generally dry parts of Australia. Schænus is another of 
those very flexible types which are neither typically hygrophilous nor typically xero- 
philous, but capable of associating with plants of either kind. Drapetes grows, so far as 
I can ascertain, everywhere in open land, evidently depending upon a greater amount of 
light, but at the same time of moisture. 
VI. THE HIGHLAND FLORA OF KINABALU COMPARED WITH THAT OF NEW GUINEA. 
I have already alluded to the analogies in the character of the vegetation of the higher 
parts of the Javan mountains and of the highland of Kinabalu, analogies which find 
their expression not only in the physiognomy, but also in the systematic composition of 
the flora. It would be of very great interest to compare the flora of Kinabalu also with 
the floras of the high mountains of Celebes, Palawan, Mindanao, and Luzon, some of 
which rise to 9000 and even 10,000 feet. Unfortunately we know next to nothing about 
them. On the other hand, Beecaris expedition to Mt. Arfak, Macgregor’s exploration 
of the Owen Stanley Range, and Zoeller’s visit to the Finisterre Mountains have brought 
to light facts which are of great importance for the understanding of the flora of 
Kinabalu. 
One cannot read the few lines which Beccari has written on the summit flora of 
Mt. Arfak (‘ Malesia,’ i: p. 215) without being reminded of some of the most charac- 
teristic elements of the ridge-vegetation of Kinabalu. Podocarpus cupressina, 
P. Rumphii—which Beccari considers identical with P. bracteata in another place— 
species of ZEschynanthus, Dichrotrichum, Balanophora, Pratia, Eurya, Drymis, Lepto- 
spermum, Myrica, and 7 Ericaceze are amongst the plants which his small list of the 
summit flora contains. The physiognomic character of the vegetation of the higher part, 
and particularly of the ridges of the Finisterre Mountains as we know it from Zoeller’s 
description and from Warburg’s paper “ Bergpflanzen aus Kaiser Wilhelm’s Land” (in 
Engler, Bot. Jahrb. xvi. p. i. pp. 1-32], seems to be very similar to that on Kinabalu. 
The small collection, however, which Hellwig brought home from this expedition con- 
tains few identical genera if compared with the Kinabalu collections; yet there are 
among them not less than 5 species of Rhododendron. The highest interest attaches, 
however, to the Owen Stanley Range. Dense forest covers the slopes of this mountain 
up to 11,500 and locally to almost 11,900 feet, followed by a zone characterized by an 
almost purely herbaceous vegetation of “alpine” character, but still of a poor aspect. 
Here, as on Kinabalu, a zone of extreme moisture lies between 7000 and 8000 or 8500 
feet. “Everything is draped in moss, which gives the forest a soft and lonely aspect ; 
and at that time all objects were saturated with moisture.” (Macgregor, Journ. Geogr. 
Soc. 1890, p. 204.) “Roots, trunks and branches were wrapped up in thick coverings 
of moss; even the leaves were not free from it. Everything was soaking wet.” (Mac- 
gregor, l. c. 208.) But this “zone of moss and fog” is followed here by a zone with a 
** dry and fine climate," as is the case in the high mountains of Java. This is very 
different from what we find on Kinabalu, where the granite cap receives an enormous 
amount of rain even during the driest month. 
