SEIFRIZ: PLANTS ON MrT. GEDEH, JAVA 285 
ures of plant life in this mountain rain-forest is the marked 
change in type of vegetation as one ascends. At Tjibodas, at 
an altitude of 4,600 feet, the palms, bamboos, fig trees, and ba- 
nanas, characteristic of the lowlands, still occur, but are soon 
displaced by oaks, chestnuts, Podocarpus and tree-ferns. Gnarled, 
moss-covered trees then follow, only later to disappear. And 
finally, after attaining an altitude of 9,400 feet, a scant alpine 
flora, characterized by the Javanese edelweiss, is reached. 
The following brief description of the altitudinal distribution 
of plants in the virgin forest on Mt. Gedeh will, I trust, give some 
idea of the distribution of the plant life and of its luxuriance and 
beauty. 
Java was divided into four ‘‘Gewachszonen”’ by Junghuhn, 
the foremost naturalist of the Dutch East Indies, and these 
vegetative zones he divided into ‘‘Gebiete.’’ The first zone of 
Junghuhn is the hot region from the sea-coast to an altitude of 
2,000 feet; the second, the temperate region from 2,000 to 4,500 
feet; the third, the cool region from 4,500 to 7,500 feet; and the 
fourth, the cold region from 7,500 to 10,000 feet. These last 
two vegetative zones of Junghuhn, from 4,600 feet, the altitude 
of Tjibodas, to 9,400 feet, the crater of Mt. Gedeh,* which are 
the ones that concern us here, can be divided into five distinct 
subzones. 
I. THe RASAMALA .SUBZONE 
(4,600-5,500 feet) 
The first subzone, at Tjibodas, is characterized by its big 
trees—superb giants many of them are. The monarch of all 
is the rasamala, Altingia excelsa (Liquidambar Altingidna) 
(Fic. 2), whose smooth, grayish white trunk arises out of the 
wealth of vegetation at its base as straight as a ship’s mast. 
These fine trees reach a height of 175 feet and a maximum 
diameter, near the base, of 8 feet (F1G. 3). When buttresses 
are formed the base may flare to a diameter of 12 feet. The 
trunk maintains a diameter of fully 234 feet for 75 to 100 feet 
from the ground at which point it first branches. So char- 
acteristic a tree of this region is Al/ingia that it may well lend 
its name to the subzone. 
* The summit of Mt. Pangerango is 9,800 feet. 
