SEIFRIZ: PLANTS ON MT. GEDEH, JAVA 289 
found protruding from the ground, growing quite alone in the 
very center of the trail. Dense thickets are formed by the rank 
growth of the tall vegetative shoots of this plant. Associated 
with this ginger is another species, Phaeomeria solaris, whose 
flower also appears just above the surface of the soil some 
distance from the leafy shoots of the plant The blossom is of a 
rich orange-red color and as large as a small head of cabbage. 
Other but terminal-flowered gingers will be met with in the next 
subzone. The blossom of Arisaema filiforme (a jack-in-the- 
pulpit) is an attractive though somber colored flower, especially 
interesting because of its unusually long spadix which droops 
out of the spathe to a length of eight inches. The three jaunty 
bells of the tiny weed, Argostemma montanum, form a dainty 
white flower cluster which is abundant along the trail. _ Cestrum 
elegans is a small tree-shrub with red pendent flowers. 
Of the onsen epiphytes the orchids are the most 
numerous. Those most frequently met with are species of 
_ Dendrobium and Bulbophyllum. Liparis, Eria, and A ppendicula 
are somewhat less numerous, although A. ramosa is rather 
abundant. Certain species of Dendrobium are remarkable be- 
cause all the individuals in any one locality blossom simul- 
taneously.* The epiphytic “‘pines,’’ Tillandsia and Caruguata, 
which are so striking and characteristic a feature of the epiphytic 
vegetation of tropical America, are not to be found in Java—in- 
deed, not in all the eastern tropics. 
Ferns, both as part of the vegetation of the forest floor and 
phy dingly abundant. The ferns asa group are 
widely inca throughout the mountain rain-forest, occur- 
ting in all subzones, though in varying abundance. Common 
terrestrial forms of the first subzone are, Pleridium aquilinum, 
Pieris longipes, numerous species of Dryopteris (e.g., D. truncata), 
and the interesting Diplazium proliferum, which develops a bud, 
often of huge size, at the base of each pinna. This habit of 
proliferating is not infrequent among the ferns of this region. 
A noteworthy fern is the enormous Angioptertis evecta, found 
in moist spots, especially bordering streams, and occurring in 
many forms. This fern commands attention because of its 
colossal 15-18 foot fronds which spread out over the trail. 
* See Seifriz, William: The gregarious flowering of the orchid Dendrobium 
crumenatum, Am. Jour. Bot. 20: 32-3 3 
