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ZONES AND REGIONS [Pt. Ill, Sect. IV 



are no lianes. The epiphytes on the Casuarina are confined to a few puny 

 orchids and a small Acrostichum ; only Usneae are numerous and continue 

 to increase in number with the altitude. The air is not moist enough, 

 not sufficiently impregnated with mist, to evoke the rich moss-vegetation 

 of the temperate forest of West Java. The vegetation on the ground 

 is not delicate and large-leaved as in the rain-forest, but exhibits leathery 



foliage like that of a thin German pine- 

 forest. Also systematically the flora has 

 a north temperate character and recalls 

 that of our most open woodlands. 



Dominant in these forests I found Festuca 

 nubigena, Euphorbia Rothiana resembling our 

 E. amygdaloides, loose cushions of scentless 

 violets (Viola serpens and others), Plantago 

 asiatica, small Umbelliferae (Pimpinella Prua- 

 tjan and P. javanica), small species of Gna- 

 phalium, Valeriana javanica, Sonchus javanicus, 

 Ranunculus prolifer, Galium javanicum, Al- 

 chemilla villosa, Wahlenbergia lavandulae- 

 folia, Cynoglossum javanicum, Thalictrum 

 javanicum,Agrimoniajavanica(ontheTengger), 

 and especially Pteris aquilina. 



At about 2,800 meters the forest ceases. 

 The Casuarina becomes dwarfed, gnarled, 

 the branches are mostly dead. The little 

 trees of Ouercus pruinosa and Vaccinium 

 myrtoides assume the habit of elfin-trees, 

 with short main stems, their branches 

 in serpentine coils, and forming umbrella- 

 shaped crowns. Finally, tree-growth en- 

 tirely ceases. The summit is covered 

 by an alpine steppe, the short stiff sods 

 of which protrude in tussocks from the 

 ground ; the intervening spaces are partly bare, partly occupied by a 

 creeping stiff-leaved dwarf-shrub, Leucopogon javanicus (Fig. 429). Some 

 species of plants — such as Alchemilla villosa (Fig. 431) and Pimpinella 

 Pruatjan — occurring in the tjemoro-forest are still found here, but with their 

 habit quite altered, in fact alpine with shortened stems and massive roots. 

 Gnaphalium involucratum in its dwarfed alpine form is hardly recog- 

 nizable as being specifically identical with the tall plant of the montane 

 region (Fig. 430). A minute Gentiana (G. quadrifaria, Fig. 426) alone 

 shows an approach to the otherwise absent cushion-type. Stony soil 

 bears bushy dwarf- shrubs, with thick, rough bark, and stiff markedly 



Fig. 425. Alpine flora of Java. Pho- 

 tinia integrifolia. Summit of the Wido- 

 daren, East Java. 3,330 meters. Two-thirds 

 natural size. 



