286 SEIFRIZ: PLANTS ON MT. GEDEH, JAVA 
The rivals of the rasamala in size are the oaks and chestnuts. 
The oaks, of which there are several species (e.g., Quercus spicata 
and Q. Pseudo-molucca), are in some respects strikingly different 
from our American oaks. The trunks rise like great columns 
before they branch to form 
the crown, and the fruits 
are of a colossal size com- 
pared to an American 
acorn. Botanists do not 
always appreciate how 
characteristic a tree of the 
tropics the oakis. We be- 
come accustomed to re- 
garding Quercus as a tem- 
perate genus. The chest- 
nuts are likewise of great 
size. The two character- 
istic species are Castanea 
Tungurrut and C. argentea. 
Conspicuous among the 
big trees of the first subzone 
on Mt. Gedeh are the figs, 
whose composite trunks as- 
sume tremendous size. 
There are nine species of fig 
on Gedeh (more than sixty 
in all Java), the largest 
of which is Ficus involu- 
crata. In connection with 
the epiphytic habit of fig 
Fic. 3. The trunk-base of the r 
mala. The large liane (on ee left), Soa Ke nd : se ; 
with arco ti is a Piper, possibly tree seedlings it 1s of in- 
P. bacca The smaller liane, extendin ~ terest to note that Chodat,* 
up the soe is Ficus disticha. The lar as a result of his recent 
— = a banana, Musa acuminata, can “a ; South 
seen 
shes lane eile: eniees investigations in 
America, has discovered 
that “the young Ficus from its first implantation behaves as a 
saprophyte.”’ 
e medium sized and smaller trees of the first subzone are 
* Chodat, Robert: La Végétation du Paraguay, Geneva, 1920. 
