Chap. IV] TROPICAL DISTRICTS CONSTANTLY MOIST 341 



high mountainous regions above the tropical climate. We saw in the dark 

 rain-forest of the interior of Trinidad the brownish-red inflorescences of 

 Helosis guyanensis, like densely crowded raspberries, springing from the 

 otherwise bare soil. 



The most wonderful of all parasites are, as is well known, the Malayan 

 species of Raffiesia, foremost among which is Rafflesia Arnoldi in Sumatra, 

 with solitary flowers measuring one meter in diameter. Personally, I have 

 seen in its native home only the somewhat smaller R. Patma, and that on 

 Noesa Kambangan, a small island of South Java, where it grows socially, 

 if not in an actual virgin forest, at any rate in one that has been abandoned 

 to itself for many years. I wrote the following note on the spot regarding 

 its habitat and occurrence : ' After traversing the narrow belt of littoral 

 forest, one reaches a thin forest of medium height, which uninterruptedly 

 clothes the stony southern slopes. The soil is almost entirely covered 

 by a herbaceous aroid about a meter high. On the trees are hanging 

 the very long cords of a Cissus, the bases of which, as with most lianes, 

 creep along the ground over long stretches. These prostrate parts of the 

 liane, often several meters long, are, as Junghuhn has already correctly 

 stated, the parts that bear the parasite. They bear the buds in rows, and 

 in stages of development up to the size of one's head, alternating with 

 rotten black remains of flowers and empty basin-like outgrowths, that 

 served as the matrix of flowers now vanished. The sole perfect flower, 

 that apparently has only just opened, possesses a bright tobacco-brown 

 colour and emits a foetid odour. Insects, however, are not visible, either 

 within or on the flower ' (February, 1890). 



Not within the rain-forest, but in more open and brighter situations, 

 I met with the most striking examples of tropical parasitic growth. 

 Specially remarkable was a tract of country in the West Indian island 

 of Grenada, which was quite overrun by Cuscuta americana ; most of the 

 trees were completely covered by a bright yellow veil, that hung down 

 around them to the ground and covered the shrubs and herbs as far as 

 the nearest trees. At many places, for instance in Java and especially 

 in the neighbouring thousand islands, species of Cassytha appeared in great 

 abundance as a reddish-yellowish green felt-like coating over woody and 

 herbaceous plants. 



Cuscuta contains a little chlorophyll, Cassytha considerably more. This 

 sequence leads to the foliaged hemi parasites, which are represented in the 

 tropics by the Loranthaceae alone, although by numerous species of several 

 genera. Mingled with epiphytes, from which they are distinguishable only 

 by their root-system, they contribute to the luxuriance of the vegetation 

 covering the branches of the trees, while many of them develop a magnificent 

 show of blossom. 



