'60 ON THE VEGETATION OP MALAYSIA, 



surface of others without deriving anything from them, are 

 extremely common in this region, especially if we include the Fig- 

 trees. 5ut even exclusive of the Figs, the Mistletoes and similar 

 plants, such as Viscuni, Ginalloa and Anginalloa, are abundant in 

 the jungle. The species of Viscum or true Mistletoe which are found 

 in the Indian Archipelago belong to the leafless group, and these, 

 like those of Mauritius and Australia, V. compressum and V, 

 ramosissimum are common with Loranthus tetragonus, L. formosus 

 and over twenty other species on different trees. This exceed- 

 ingly difiicult genus has its species so closely resembling one 

 another, and so many varieties that they require great experience 

 to distinguish them, especially where they are so numerous. 



Orchide^. — There is no department of the vegetable kingdom 

 that attracts so much attention in Malaysia as this natural order. 

 They are interesting in their habit ; they grow so easily, requiring 

 little attention, and can be put almost anywhere, and they often 

 produce flowers pre-eminent in their form, colour, and fragrance, 

 that nearly every one collects them amongst the European resi- 

 dents. They hang them in their verandahs or amongst their 

 flower-pots, and are often rewarded by seeing the fairest blossoms 

 open from what look like dry and shrivelled stems and roots. 

 Scarcely a bungalow in the European quarters but contains a 

 goodly show of these odd plants, though they are not ornamental 

 unless when in flower. Yet it may be questioned whether there 

 are many who make these collections who have the most elemen- 

 tary knowledge about the nature of the plants. They would flnd 

 it extremely difficult to give a definition of what an Orchid is. 

 Most amateurs believe that their epiphytic character is a dis- 

 tinctive mark belonging to the order. This is not a matter of 

 surprise in Malaysia, where ground Orchids are rare, and nearly 

 all the species are epiphytal, or grow on stones. The fibrous 

 roots in bundles which clasp the stems of the trees to which they 

 grow, or which hang loosely in the air, or are fleshy tubers 

 and filled with granules of bassorin (a soluble gum like 

 tragacanth), are marks distinct enough in the eyes of amateurs 



