THE PALAEOTROIMCS 



Probably no tropical mountain has been more thoroughly 

 explored than the.Gedeh; and no mountain better illustral 

 the changing zones of vegetation as one ascends from the bs 

 to the summit, 10,000 feet above sea-level. 



The forest, which at Tjibodas, about 4000 feet elevation, La 

 predominantly a tropical rain-forest, two thousand feet higher 

 shows a marked increase in such temperate types as the oaks 

 and chestnuts. The foliage is less luxuriant, and the climbers 

 and epiphytes (except mosses and ferns), become decidedly 

 less developed. In the upper zone mosses become extraordinarily 

 abundant, great cushions of moss covering the ground and fallen 

 logs, and the trunks and branches being covered and festooned 

 with mosses of many kinds. They seem to find an especially 

 congenial habitat in these cool wet forests, and are much more 

 important than the liverworts which are so abundant in the 

 lower elevations, although there are some species confined to 

 the higher altitudes. 



At one point on the trail leading to the summit is an interest- 

 ing illustration of the effect of increased temperature. This 

 locality "Tjipanas, ' has a number of hot springs which issue 

 from the mountain side and form a natural hot-house, where 

 the vegetation has a genuine tropical luxuriance. Gorgeous 

 orchids, pitcher plants, giant tree-ferns, and a dense drapery 

 of ferns and mosses on the rocks, together presented a picture 

 suggesting the hot zone 4,000 feet below. 



At this time (April) the young foliage of the evergreen foresl 

 presented a great variety of beautiful tints, red, pink, yellow, 

 adding much to the beauty of the scene. 



Toward the top of the mountain, the forest trees are low and 

 distorted, with scanty foliage, the branches covered with moss 

 and draped with long streamers of gray lichen. 1 The floor of 

 this strange forest is covered with a carpet of dead leaves and 

 twigs, among which a curious parasite with red and yellow 

 flowers (Balanophora elongata), may sometimes be found, and 

 with it a few ferns and a small terrestrial orchid an 

 sociated. 



A very characteristic plant of this region is a tall yellow 



1 Schimper, loc. eit., p. 72li. gives the following aa the moat important tn 

 Aralia sp., Myrsine avenis, Yaccinium floribundum. 



