Botanical Notices from Java. 471 



" In these months only a very few of the large forest-trees are 

 found in blossom, although the species, as a superficial observation 

 of their foliage shovv^s, is infinitely numerous. I now only found in 

 blossom Podocarpus latifolia, Bl., Vernonia javanica, DC., Ptero- 

 spermum javanicum (Jgh.), and two species oi Fagrcea. 



" The Podocarpus is in its leaves deceptively like the Agathis loran- 

 thifolia, Salisb., which I had not yet met with in this country, but 

 which is cultivated in many splendid specimens at Pontokgede, on 

 the steep acclivities of the mountain. Its pyramidal growth, stretch- 

 ing up aloft and being at the same time very narrow, readily distin- 

 guishes it from all the other trees. 



" Of the Fagrcece I should consider one, which is recognised from a 

 distance by its large golden blossoms glittering through the leafy 

 crowns, as F. obovata (ohovata-javand)^ BL, and the other as F. Ian- 

 ceolata, Bl., were they not both sixty to seventy feet high, large- 

 stemmed forest-trees, whereas in the works of M. Blume they are 

 described as parasitical and shrubby. 



" An interesting sight to the. northern stranger is the occurrence of 

 a syngenesious plant, as a forest-tree fifty to sixty feet high and 

 large- stemmed, with flowers resembling our Eupatorice; it is the 

 Vernonia javanica, DC, which occurs scattered in the woods at a 

 height of from 3000 to 5000 feet, but by no means rare. 



" The Javanese give the name of Pohon-payor to a species oiPtero- 

 spermum (Pt. Javanicum, Jgh.), a very pretty tree, whose leaves are 

 covered on the under surface with a rust- coloured silver-gray felt. 

 The growth of these trees is more expanded than slender ; but they 

 are discernible above all others by the whitish brown tint of their 

 foliage, which glitters afar off; they however by no means impart a 

 physiognomy to the wood, as they are isolated among the Rasamala, 

 which are pre-eminent from their number, and also exceed all others 

 in size and mass, so that these woods may rightly be called Rasa- 

 mala- forests. And they were so now, being in full blossom. Their 

 green foliage was clothed with a reddish tint, for the circumference 

 of their rounded crowns was covered all over with blossoms, the 

 small spherical male catkins, which gave to the whole surface of the 

 forest, especially seen from a certain distance, a red enamel, and 

 distinguished above all others a Rasamala-tree, even when its stem 

 was hidden in the bosom of the forest. According to the observa- 

 tions which I made several times on this and other mountains, the 

 region of the Rasamalas lies, where they are the most numerous and 

 grow highest, at between 2000 and 4000 feet. At 4000 feet they 

 are already very isolated ; at a greater height than 4500 feet I never 

 saw them ; but at 1500 feet they are still met with ; from which it 

 may be observed, that their lower limits cannot be ascertained with 

 the same certainty as their upper, and that it is to be feared that 

 these noble trees, whose occurrence is limited to a few mountains in 

 the west of Java (on the Salak, Ged6, on some mountains between 

 Tjanjor and the Bay of Palabuan-Ratu, and some others), will one 

 day completely disappear : for their region is also of very small 

 vertical extent, and is precisely at the same height at which coflfee- 



