Flora of Krakatau 29 



numerous clearings, is chiefly composed of such trees and shrubs as 

 the botanist recognises in his first excursion into a. Javan strand-forest 

 and as we had met with on Edam, at Vlakke Hoek and .Java's First 

 Point. Tall Casuarinas, 12 15 metres [39 49 feet] high, form the 

 largest portion of the closed forest-formation (PL V., fig. 5). Young in- 

 dividuals of the same trees linked to the neighbouring shrubs by slender 

 climbing plants, such as Gassytha, Vigna, Ccmavalia, Caescdpinia 

 Bonducdla, Vitis trifolia, constitute an almost continuous mass of 

 foliage ; the shoots of Vitis trifolia are especially abundant, winding- 

 over the tallest Casuarinas and covering their stems and branches 

 with a luxuriant mosaic of leaves. 



At the edge of the group of Casuarinas we discovered a fine specimen 

 of a female plant of Cycas circincUis, bearing a handsome crown of 

 fronds at the apex of a trunk 1 metre 65 cm. [5 feet 9 inches] high 

 and 80 cm. in circumference ; the growing-point was surrounded by 

 yellowish-brown carpellary leaves the ovules of which showed signs of 

 shrinkage. Like those of previous years which lay on the ground, they 

 were evidently destined to remain unfertilised. It is improbable that 

 ripe Cycas seeds will be found in Krakatau in the near future, as in 

 spite of diligent search Ave saw no male plants either on Krakatau or 

 on Verlaten island, nor did we discover any other female plants 1 . 

 Further to the south, slender stems of Calophyllum Inophyllvm and 

 Terminalia Catappa with their whorled branches struggle upwards 

 above the zone of trees and shrubs (Frontispiece). The leaves of both 

 these trees are leathery, while in other species which we found here, 

 such as Sopkora tomentosa, (Merodendron inerme, Pempln* addida, 

 Morinda eitrifolia, they are fleshy, or like those of Tonmefortia 

 argentea, especially on the younger branches of the plant, they are 

 clothed with a dense felt of hairs. These plants like other trees 

 and shrubs of the new forest-zone belonging to the Leguminosae, 

 Euphorbiaceae, Rubiaccae, Lythraceae and other families, with the 

 grasses, Lauraceae, Leguminosae and Compositae, which grow in the 

 clearings, are all well adapted by their vegetative structure, particu- 

 larly in the form and anatomical structure of their leaves, to an 

 existence in ground rich in salt and which therefore, from a botanical 

 point of view, despite the abundance of water, constitutes a physio- 

 logically dry habitat. Above a clearing overgrown with tall grass we 

 could see some specimens of the most beautiful tree of the tropical 

 strand-forest, the Myrtaceous plant Barringtonia speciosa, after 

 which the whole type of vegetation of these forests has been named 

 the Barringtonia formation. The large white flowers present a 

 striking appearance against the background of a dense canopy of 



1 See Addendum I., p. 72. 



