296 ZONES AND REGIONS [Ft. Ill, Sect. I 



struggle for existence ; the rest of the vegetation appears to have no 

 other object than to serve as supports for their funnels and to fill these 

 with dead leaves, until stems break under their weight, or perish — and this 

 the more frequently— owing to disturbances in the metabolism. 



Many other types of plants also establish themselves on the bark of the 

 trees. The bases of the trunks are free from large epiphytes, but are wrapped 

 in a thin veil of delicate Hymenophyllaceae. Vaccinium lucidum produces 

 from a tuberous stem its twigs with box-like leaves and small flowers ; 

 Ficus diversifolia attracts attention by its leaves, which are ochre-coloured 

 beneath, and by its bright yellow figs of the size of peas. At many other 

 places in Java, but always at a lower altitude, Myrmecodia and Hydno- 

 phytum (Figs. 85, 86) — the widely known myrmecophytes with shoots 

 swollen like turnips — are attached to the stems and thicker branches. 

 Mosses and lichens, as epiphytes, are poorly developed in such low-lying 

 forests ; their true home is the higher cool, misty region. 



In comparison with green, other colours are feebly represented. The 

 tropical rain-forest is however by no means so poor in plants with beautiful 

 flowers as is usually stated, possibly in accordance with Wallace, who 

 probably had in his mind an English meadow, and did not compare 

 forest with forest. Rather is the tropical forest in general richer in 

 colours than a European forest, especially in America, where varied and 

 abundant epiphytic Bromeliaceae are frequently provided with brightly 

 coloured flowers, fruits, or bracts. 



Rhododendron javanicum and species of Medinilla have been already 

 mentioned as beautifully flowering plants of the Javanese forest. Many 

 terrestrial shrubs merit the same description, for instance species of the 

 rubiaceous Pavetta, with coral-red umbellate panicles, which in parts of 

 the Salak are quite common. Species of Mussaenda, belonging also to the 

 Rubiaceae, are commoner ; in them one of the sepals is developed into 

 a larger dazzling white leaf, whilst the small corollas stand out in perfect 

 orange-yellow. Beautiful beyond comparison is Dichroa Cyanites with 

 its lovely sky-blue and snow-white inflorescences ; and the species of the 

 ternstroemiaceous Saurauja, which may be described rather as small trees 

 than as shrubs, recall our cherry-trees by their delicate flowers. The 

 numerous Melastomaceae are more remarkable in Java for their peculiar 

 foliage than for the beauty of their flowers, which, except for Medinilla, 

 are far behind the tropical American species in brightness of colour 

 and size. Tolerably inconspicuous in the low-lying forests are Ardisia 

 semidentata, A. polyneura, and other species, whilst the well-named 

 Ardisia decus-montis forms one of the chief attractions of the more 

 elevated temperate rain-forest 1 . 



1 See Sect. IV. 



