XV. THE FLORA OF KLANG GATES, SELANGOR. 



By H. N. Ridley, M.A., C.M.G., F.R.S. 



The high ridge of Klang Gates in Selangor consists 

 of a lofty dyke of quartzite running across the valley of 

 the Klang river which has cut its way through the rock. 

 The ridge is about three miles in length, and its highest 

 point is 1,400 feet in height. In many places the top is 

 quite narrow, only a few feet across, and the sides are 

 in most places quite precipitous. It is evidently a 

 quartzite dyke traversing granitic rocks which have long 

 since been eroded away. I visited it many years ago 

 and collected there a portion of the peculiar flora on a 

 part of the ridge to the north above the bungalow, which 

 stands high up above the road; and on the 2nd January, 

 1921, with Mr. C. Roden Kloss and Messrs. Milsum and 

 South of the Agricultural Department ascended the 

 ridge on the south side to Rukit Lompat Rayan, 1,148 feet 

 altitude. On the previous day Mr. Kloss and I 

 had ascended the north side above the bungalow, for 

 some way, and later Mr. Kloss went further up 

 towards Rukit Ratu Tabur, the highest point, 1,445 feet 

 high. On the lower slopes the lowland flora has ascended 

 for some distance, where there is sufficient soil and 

 humidity for its growth, but on the bare quartzite ridge 

 there is a small but quite peculiar flora consisting of 

 several endemic species with several only known from 

 much higher altitudes in our mountains, and not occurr- 

 ing in the forest-clad hills of the main chain. These 

 plants are strictly xerophytic and, as I shall hope to show 

 in a later paper, are the remains of an ancient xerophytic 

 flora which at one time pervaded the whole of the Malay 

 Peninsula, but which by climatic changes has been driven 

 out, only persisting on the sub-xerophytic tops of certain 

 of our mountains and to some extent on the seashores. 



To reach the summit of the ridge on the south side 

 we crossed the river and passed through a portion of a 

 rubber plantation, above which is a wooded slope con- 

 sisting of lowland trees and shrubs in which we found 

 the new and beautiful Didijmocarpus primiilimis. This 

 slope of deep humus leads to a break in the precipitous 

 quartzite ridge by which it is possible to get on to the top 

 at Rukit Lompat Rayan, which is quite bare of soil and 

 bears the remarkable rock flora. It is this flora of which 

 I treat in this paper, but have added two new species 

 growing lower down and towards the base of the rock. 



Capparis lariitensis. King. (Capparidaceae). 



A single bush of this very thorny plant occurred on 

 the rocks behind the bungalow. Only previously known 

 from Perak. 



