LEAFLETS OF PHILIPPINE BOTANY 
EDITED BY A. D. E. ELMER, A. M. 
Vol. HI. Manila, P. I., January 31, 1911. Art. 59 
THE ERICACEAE OF MOUNT APO 
BY 
A. D. E. Elmer 
—ÓÜ— 
The Ericaceae is a truly alpine family in the Philippines. 
Either as trees or shrubs they dwell among rocky outcroppings, 
along forested ridges and in the elfinwoods or in stony soil 
above timber line of some of our highest mountains. A goodly 
share of them have assumed epiphytie habits and love to 
dwell upon the uppermost limbs of the highest trees in densely 
forested flats or in straggling woods of wind swept ridges. In 
fact most of our Philippine species are epiphytes, and all four 
of our genera have representatives as such. Consequently most 
all of our species are shrubs, comparatively few are trees and 
only those at the highest elevations assume prostrate or trail- 
ing habits. 
In the mount Apo region are at least twenty two species 
of Ericaceae, ten of which are new to botanical science. 
Out of the fifty species now known in our archipelago only 
two, Vaccinium microphyllum Blm. and Gaultheria borneensis Stapf 
are not endemic. 
On Apo only the common Gaultheria cumingiana Vid. was 
found, yet G. borneensis Stapf has been collected in the 
mountainous region of middle northern Luzon. In this same 
region of Luzon are about a dozen species of Vaccinium. 
In the following list we definitely cite only ten, which 
however were gathered from a much smaller area than those 
