230 OUTLINE OF PLANT GEOGRAPHY 



On this mountain, at about 4,000 feet elevation, is a botanical 

 garden with accomodations for visiting botanists; and Tjibodas, 

 the site of this garden, is familiar to many botanists who have 

 explored the virgin forest which immediately adjoins the garden. 

 From this point to the summit of Pangerango, 10,000 feet high, 

 is an unbroken primaeval forest, in which one may study at his 

 convenience the wonderfully rich vegetation of this great volcano. 



The lower forest comprises over a hundred species of trees 

 belonging to many genera. The figs and myrtles, so numerous 

 in the lowland forest are much less abundant, while chestnuts, 

 oaks, maples, Viburnum, and Vaccinium, recall the forests of 

 the north temperate zone. The tallest tree of this region, the 

 "Rasamala" (Altingia excelsa), is a near relative of the American 

 Liquidambar. Magnificent specimens of this noble tree are 

 growing close to the garden, and high up on the branches one 

 catches glimpses of the bright orange flowers of an epiphytic 

 rhododendron (R. Javanicum). 



A number of trees belong to genera characteristic of the forests 

 of Atlantic North America. Of these the beautiful Gordonia 

 excelsa with its abundant big white flowers, is the most conspic- 

 uous. Others belong to the genera Nyssa, Celtis and Lindera. 

 Other representative genera of this forest are Symplocos, Schima, 

 Trema, Elaeocarpus, Flacourtia, Antidesma, Cedrela, Wein- 

 mannia, Myrsine, Pandanus, Vernonia, Michelia. The only 

 gvmnosperms are two species of Podocarpus. 



(limbing plants are not so abundant as in the lowland forest, 

 but there is an immense development of epiphytes, ferns, mosses, 

 orchids, rhododendrons, and many others. Common and con- 

 spicuous are the species of Aeschynanthus with scarlet flowers. 



Of the epiphytic ferns, the great bird's-nest fern (Asplenium 

 nidus) is the most conspicuous. This fern sometimes has attached 

 to its base another remarkable epiphytic species, Ophioglossum 

 pendulum, and other epiphytic ferns are many Hymenophyllaceae, 

 1 ttt<i riu spp., Polypodium spp., and others. There are several 

 epiphytic species of Lycopodium, e. g., L. Phlegmaria, and also 

 Selaginella. 



Flowers are not very abundant, but sometimes a showy orchid 

 i- met with, and some extremely pretty balsams (Impatiens 

 spp.) are very common. 



