Seifriz: Plants on Mt. Gedeh, Java 285 



ures of plant life in this mountain rain-forest is the marked 

 change in type of vegetation as one ascends. At Tjibodas, at 

 an altitude of 4,600 feet, the palms, bamboos, fig trees, and ba- 

 nanas, characteristic of the lowlands, still occur, but are soon 

 displaced by oaks, chestnuts, Podocarpus and tree-ferns. Gnarled , 

 moss-covered trees then follow, only later to disappear. And 

 finally, after attaining an altitude of 9,400 feet, a scant alpine 

 flora, characterized by the Javanese edelweiss, is reached. 



The following brief description of the altitudinal distribution 

 of plants in the virgin forest on Mt. Gedeh will, I trust, give some 

 idea of the distribution of the plant life and of its luxuriance and 

 beauty. 



Java was divided into four " Gewachszonen " by Junghuhn, 

 the foremost naturalist of the Dutch East Indies, and these 

 vegetative zones he divided into "Gebiete." . The first zone of 

 Junghuhn is the hot region from the sea-coast to an altitude of 

 2,000 feet; the second, the temperate region from 2,000 to 4,500 

 feet; the third, the cool region from 4,500 to 7,500 feet; and the 

 fourth, the cold region from 7,500 to 10,000 feet. These last 

 two vegetative zones of Junghuhn, from 4,600 feet, the altitude 

 of Tjibodas, to 9,400 feet, the crater of Mt. Gedeh,* which are 

 the ones that concern us here, can be divided into five distinct 

 subzones. 



I. The Rasamala Subzone 



(4,600-5,500 feet) 



The first subzone, at Tjibodas, is characterized by its big 

 trees — superb giants many of them are. The monarch of all 

 is the rasamala, Altingia excelsa (Liquidambar Altingid'na) 

 (Fig. 2), whose smooth, grayish white trunk arises out of the 

 wealth of vegetation at its base as straight as a ship's mast. 

 These fine trees reach a height of 175 feet and a maximum 

 diameter, near the base, of 8 feet (Fig. 3). When buttresses 

 are formed the base may flare to a diameter of 12 feet. The 

 trunk maintains a diameter of fully 2 l / 2 feet for 75 to 100 feet 

 from the ground at which point it first branches. So char- 

 acteristic a tree of this region is Altingia that it may well lend 

 its name to the subzone. 



* The summit of Mt. Pangerango is 9,800 feet. 



