292 



Seifriz: Plants on Mt. Gedeh, Java 



Here, in the second subzone, which we have just entered, the 

 vegetation first really assumes the aspect of a tropical rain- 

 forest. Lianes are more numerous. The undergrowth is less 



orderly (but by no means a 

 "jungle," a word which is so often 

 and so erroneously used to char- 

 acterize tropical vegetation) . Trees, 

 rocks, and soil are moss-bedecked ; 

 and all is reeking wet, actual bogs 

 being met with under foot. 



Some plant forms of the first 

 subzone are still abundant, but 

 others are no longer seen and new 

 forms take their place. The great 

 rasamala is rare. Podocarpus is 

 its successor (Fig. 5). This tree is 

 the only conifer, in fact the only 

 gymnosperm, indigenous to Mt. 

 Gedeh. Three species of Podo- 

 carpus are to be found, P. imbricata 

 (P. cupressina), P. neriifolia, and 

 P. amara. While this genus ex- 

 tends into the two adjacent zones, 

 especially the upper one, it is in 

 this second subzone that it is most 

 abundant and reaches its maximum 

 size, fully 5 feet in diameter. 



Podocarpus is the monarch of 

 the second subzone, as was Altingia 

 of the first, but other very large 

 trees are also numerous. Especi- 

 ally fine is Engelhardtia {E. serrata 

 and E. spicata). This big tree re- 

 sembles the rasamala in size and 

 shape, but its small lanceolate 

 leaflets give to its lofty crown a different and lacy appearance. 

 Another large tree common to this and the adjoining third sub- 

 zone is ScJiima Noronhae, the "poespa" of the Javanese. Its 

 good -sized, showy flowers are often seen sprinkling the ground 

 with spots of white and yellow. The figs, oaks, and chestnuts 



Fig. 5. The monarch of the 

 second subzone, Podocarpus im- 

 bricatus. The vine on the trunk 

 some 20 feet from the ground is 

 Epipremnum piiinatum. The na- 

 tive shown is Sapiin, the veteran 

 plant collector of Tjibodas, who 

 knows the Sundanese name of 

 every seed-plant in these moun- 

 tain forests. 



