Seifriz: Plants on Mt. Gedeh, Java 303 



decked with lichens instead. An idea of the completeness of 

 the change can be had by comparing the photographs on 

 Plate 17. 



Both sections of this high altitude subzone receive ample 

 precipitation, but the upper half is considerably more open in 

 character and more wind-swept. The complete absence of 

 mosses in the upper part of the zone is probably due to the effect 

 of dessicating winds at the higher altitude, where even compact, 

 tufted mosses would be unable to retain moisture. The presence 

 of lichens in the upper half of the zone and their absence in the 

 lower section is possibly due, in part, to better illumination 

 and, in part, to lack of mosses in the upper region. Certain it 

 is that the profuse moss covering of the lower half of the subzone 

 leaves no spot where a lichen might subsist. 



Having reached a second lichen flora it is instructive to 

 compare the lichens found at the higher altitude with those of 

 the first subzone at Tjibodas. Of sixty-seven species of lichens 

 collected none are common to both the first and the fourth sub- 

 zones, with one possible exception. Among the fourth subzone 

 lichens are four species of Parmelia, a Phaeographis, and a 

 Cetraria (Nephromopsis) ; the latter is the most common lichen 

 at this altitude, growing luxuriantly in large, fluffy, cream- 

 colored patches. 



V. The Edelweiss Subzone 

 (9,400 feet) 

 On emerging from the last stand of trees which ends the 

 fourth subzone on Mt. Gedeh (Plate 17, fig. 2), quite a dif- 

 ferent type of vegetation confronts one. Plant life is sparse. 

 Only one genus of tree exists and it averages not over 12 feet 

 in height. The two characteristic plants of the alpine flora of 

 the fifth subzone are the shrub, Anaphalis javanica (one of the 

 Compositae), and the small tree Albizzia montana (Fig. 7). 

 The former, with flowers of soft grayish-white color, is the 

 edelweiss of Java. Other plants typical of this open alpine 

 formation on the lava floor of the old crater of Gedeh are 

 the crinkly leaved tree-shrub Myrica javanica, the dwarf 

 Rhododendron, the dwarf Vaccinium varingiaejolium, and the 

 shrub GauUheria leucocarpa with tiny pale pink flowers, white 

 berries, and leaves of a pronounced and very agreeable winter- 



