34 ON THE VEGETATION OF MALAYSIA, 



are Arenga, Areca, Calamus, Euqeissona, Caryota, Corypha 

 Licuala, the Nibong which is an Areca, with Slackia and Macro 

 cladus which the Malays call Ebul. 



Sub-alpine Region. — In the higher mountain regions the tree 

 vegetation becomes smaller and more scanty, and on the summits 

 almost disappears. There is an alpine vegetation, differing 

 altogether however from what is understood by that name in 

 European countries. This flora is of an Australian character, a 

 fact difficult to explain. It includes Melaleuca, Leucopogon, 

 Vatica, Rhododendron, and Nepenthes, mingled with peculiar 

 cryptogams and the conifer Podocarpus. A similar flora is seen 

 on the mountains of Borneo, Java, Celebes, and some of the 

 Philippine Islands. 



Over about 3000 feet above sea-level the vegetation becomes 

 thinner and smaller. Cryptogams take the place of dicotyle- 

 donous plants, and even these, where they are not peculiar, are 

 less tropical. A species of Fterocarpus, several members of tiie 

 Tea family (TERNSTRCEMiACEyE), some PiTTOSPOREiE {Bursaria '>), 

 a Microtropis and Euonymus (Celastrine^), an Ilex, and a 

 Daphniphyllum are amongst the remarkable plants, with Orchids, 

 Begonias, Caladiums, Marantas, Lycopods, Selaginellas, Ferns, 

 Mosses, Lichens, and Fungi innumerable. 



Limestone Rocks. — The numerous outliers of limestone have a 

 distinct flora, but not the same in every place. Certain species 

 re-appear wherever the limestone crops out. Owing to the 

 facility with which limestone strata are eroded, they are generally 

 detached, precipitous and inaccessible mountains. A striking 

 instance is Pondok in Perak, which is a gigantic rock at the 

 eastern opening of the pass at Gapis, about 1500 feet above the 

 level of the sea.* It is crystalline, and the stratification seems to 

 be almost obliterated ; but yet what does remain in this and 

 other places has a considerable dip. I have never heard that 



* In my report on the geology of Perak this, by a misprint, is stated to 

 be only 300 feet high. 



