Seifriz: Plants on Mt. Gedeh, Java 299 



alga Oscillatoria, which forms a jelly-like mass, rather resembling 

 blubber, some two inches in thickness. Only the surface layer 

 of this mass is green. 



IV. The Vaccinium Subzone 



(8,000-9,000 feet) 



The climb to the crater of Mt. Gedeh or to the summit of 

 Mt. Pangerango is made in about two hours from the cabin at 

 Kandang Badak situated in the notch between the two peaks. 

 The transition from the third to the fourth subzones is very 

 abrupt on Gedeh and Pangerango. Tree ferns grow in great 

 abundance almost to the very ridge at the notch where the third 

 subzone ends. Above this point no tree fern is again met with. 

 Castanea, Quercus, and Engelha'rdtia, among the big trees of 

 the lower subzones, and persisting as smaller trees to the very 

 edge of the fourth subzone, are now no longer seen. Podocaipus 

 and Schima Noronhae are still present, but in reduced size, and 

 greatly in the minority as compared with the other species. 

 With change in kind there takes place a pronounced change in 

 size and form of the trees. The maximum height here is not 

 over sixty feet, and while some gnarled trunk may be more than 

 a foot through, the average diameter of the trees is but 8 

 inches. Especially noticeable is the irregular shape of the trees 

 of this zone (Plate 17, figs. 1,2). Whether the gnarled and 

 twisted form of high altitude trees is due to the purely mechanical 

 effect of wind or to trying physiological conditions such as high 

 evaporation and low light intensity, under which the plants 

 must grow, is still an unsettled question. 



The characteristic genus of the fourth subzone is Vaccinium. 

 In the upper half of the zone it forms pure stands (Plate 17, 

 fig. 2), but in the lower half other typical high altit ide trees 

 are present. Among these are, Polyosma ilicifolia, Astronia 

 spectabilis, Symplocos sessilifolia, Weinmannia, Eurya japonica, 

 and Rapanea avenis, the last a typically high altitude tree 

 resembling Vaccinium. The ty )e of leaves of the last two genera 

 is an instance of a very common characteristic of alpine plants, 

 namely, the reduced size, leathery texture, and waxy surface 

 of the leaves. 



A tree of unusual interest, occurring near the summit of Mt. 

 Sela, is the maple Acer niveum, which attains a maximum height 

 of 100 feet. It is the only maple in Java. 



