Sf.ifriz: Plants on Mt. Gedeh, Java 289 



found protruding from the ground, growing quite alone in the 

 very center of the trail. Dense thickets are formed by the rank 

 growth of the tall vegetative shoots of this plant. Associated 

 with this ginger is another species, Phaeomcria Solaris, whose 

 flower also appears just above the surface of the soil some 

 distance from the leafy shoots of the plant The blossom is of a 

 rich orange-red color and as large as a small head of cabbage. 

 Other but terminal-flowered gingers will be met with in the next 

 subzone. The blossom of Arisacma filiforme (a jack-in-the- 

 pulpit) is an attractive though somber colored flower, especially 

 interesting because of its unusually long spadix which droops 

 out of the spathe to a length of eight inches. The three jaunty 

 bells of the tiny weed, Argostemma montanum, form a dainty 

 white flower cluster which is abundant along the trail. Cestrum 

 elegans is a small tree-shrub with red pendent flowers. 



Of the phanerogamous epiphytes the orchids are the most 

 numerous. Those most frequently met with are species of 

 Dendrobium and BidbophyUum. Liparis, Eria, and Appendicula 

 are somewhat less numerous, although A. ramosa is rather 

 abundant. Certain species of Dendrobium are remarkable be- 

 cause all the individuals in any one locality blossom simul- 

 taneously.* The epiphytic "pines," TiUandsia and Caruguata, 

 which are so striking and characteristic a feature of the epiphytic 

 vegetation of tropical America, are not to be found in Java — in- 

 deed, not in all the eastern tropics. 



Ferns, both as part of the vegetation of the forest floor and 

 as epiphytes are exceedingly abundant. The ferns as a group are 

 widely distributed throughout the mountain rain-forest, occur- 

 ring in all subzones, though in varying abundance. Common 

 terrestrial forms of the first subzone are, Pteridium aquilinum, 

 Pteris longipes, numerous species of Dryopteris (e.g., D. truncate), 

 and the interesting Diplazium proliferum, which develops a bud, 

 often of huge size, at the base of each pinna. This habit of 

 proliferating is not infrequent among the ferns of this region. 



A noteworthy fern is the enormous Angiopteris evecta, found 

 in moist spots, especially bordering streams, and occurring in 

 many forms. This fern commands attention because of its 

 colossal 15-18 foot fronds which spread out over the trail. 



* See Seifriz, William: The gregarious flowering of the orchid Dendrobium 

 crutnenatum. Am. Jour. Bot. 20: 32-37. 1923. 



