128 Java. 



these rapidly increase, so that the blocks of rock and scoria 

 that form the mountain slope are completely hidden in a 

 mossy vegetation. At about 8000 feet European forms of 

 plants become abundant. Several species of honeysuckle, 

 St. John's-wort, and guelder-rose abound; and at about 9000 

 feet we first meet with the rare and beautiful royal cowslip 

 (Primula imperialis), which is said to be found nowhere else 

 in the world but on this solitary mountain summit. It has a 

 tall, stout stem, sometimes more than three feet high, the 

 root-leaves are eighteen inches long, and it bears several 

 whorls of cowslip-like flowers, instead of a terminal cluster 

 only. The forest-trees, gnarled and dwarfed to the dimen- 

 sions of bushes, reach up to the very rim of the old crater, 

 but do not extend over the hollow on its summit. Here we 

 find a good deal of open ground, with thickets of shrubby 

 artemisias and gnaphaliums, like our southernwood and cud- 

 weed, but six or eight feet high ; while buttercujis, violets, 

 whortleberries, sow - thistles, chickweed, white and yellow 

 cruciferre, plantain, and annual grasses everywhere abound. 

 Where there are bushes and shrubs, the St. John'srwort and 

 honeysuckle grow abundantly, while the imperial cowslip 

 only exhibits its elegant blossoms under the damp shade of 

 the thickets. 



, Mr. Motley, who visited the mountain in the dry season, 

 and paid much attention to botany, gives the following list 

 of genera of European plants found on or near the sum- 

 mit : — Two si^ecies of violets, three of ranunculus, three of 

 impatiens, eight or ten of rubus, and sj^ecies of primula, 

 hyj)ericum, swertia, convallaria (lily of the valley), vacci- 

 nium (cranberry), rhododendron, gnaphalium, polygonum, 

 digitalis (foxglove), lonicera (honeysuckle), plantago (rib- 

 grass), artemisia (wormwood), lobelia, oxalis (wood-sorrel), 

 quercus (oak), and taxus (yew). A few of the smaller plants 

 (Plantago major and lanceolata, Sonchus oleraceus, and Arte- 

 misia vulgaris) are identical with European species. 



The fact of a vegetation so closely allied to that of Europe 

 occurring on isolated mountain j^eaks, in an island south of 

 the Equator, while all the lowlands for thousands of miles 

 around are occupied by a flora of a totally different charac- 

 ter, is very extraordinary, and has only recently received an 



