136 Journal oj the F.M.S. Museums. [Vol. VIj 



Burniamiia longifolia, Becc. Podocarpus neriifolia, Don* 



Eria ferox, Bl. Lycopodinm ceylanicum, 



Spathoglottis aurea, Lindl. Spring. 



Smilax IcBvis, Wall. Lycopodmm casuarinoides. 



Spring. 



The plants marked t have not yet been found in any part 

 of the Malay Peninsula, except on Gunong Tahan. I have in 

 this list excluded the Ferns, which are mostly widely distri- 

 buted. There are also a number of species on Gunong Tahan 

 very closely allied to species on Kinabalu, such as Rhododendron 

 elegans, Ridl., allied to R. cuneifoliwn, Stapf ; Psychotria 

 demiflora, Stapf, allied to Ps. condensa, King. 



The occurrence of these plants seems to show a former 

 land-connection with Kinabalu, as many are species which 

 have neither drupaceous (bird-borne) or wind-borne seeds. 



ABSENCE OF THE HIMALAYAN ELEMENT. 



As shown in a paper on the flora of the Telom valley in 

 Perak, we have there a distinct Himalayo-Javanese element 

 represented by such plants as Viola, Sanicula, Sarcopyramis, 

 and Disporum. This type of flora seems to be remarkably 

 absent from the Tahan region, as it is from Mt. Ophir and 

 Kedah Peak. 



We have, it is true, a series which seem to have come 

 from the Himalayas, but are also Burmese and occur elsewhere 

 in the Peninsula, e.g. Pyvus and Eriohotrya ; Hedychium 

 collinum, allied to a species from Burmah and also occurring 

 on Kedah Peak, seems to have crept downwards from the 

 north. The Hamamelideae {Bucklaudia smd A Itingia) and the 

 Saxifragacese (Itea) also occur in the Himalayas and Java. 



THE AUSTRALIAN ELEMENT. 



All through the Malay Peninsula we lind scattered a 

 number of plants which have at least affinities with plants 

 characteristic of Australia or belong to characteristic Australian 

 genera. A greater part of this class of plants disappears 

 north and west of the Peninsula, being absent from the Indian 

 and Ceylon regions. 



In the Malay Peninsula they occur on the sea-shore and 

 on the higher parts of the mountains, being absent from the 

 intervening forest-regions. They persist, in fact, in our only 

 xerophytic districts — the sea-coasts and the more xerophytic 

 parts of the higher mountains. They are missing from the 

 wet forest-hills of Perak, although the altitude of these hills is 

 as high or often higher than the xerophytic zone of Mt. Ophir, 

 where they occur. 



All, or almost all, of these Australian plants have been 

 met with in similar localities in the islands lying east of the area 

 lying between the Malay Peninsula and Australia, and with an 

 increasing number of species the nearer we get to Australia. 



