SEIFRIZ: PLANTS ON Mt. GEDEH, JAVA 301 
flowers, Dendrobium Hasseltii holds a close second place. This 
orchid is quite common in these high, foggy regions. 
The parasite Balanophora elongata is a curious plant. The 
only aerial portion is the thick, short, flower-spike of brick-red 
color. Balanophora grows parasitically on the roots of Vac- 
cinium and Albizzia, the latter a tree whose acquaintance we 
shall soon make. The subterranean portion of the parasite is 
a mixture of host and parasite tissue. This composite tissue is 
very hard and much resembles a piece of stag horn coral. 
Terrestrial ferns are less numerous at this altitude. Poly- 
stichum biaristatum and Plagiogyria glauca are the most common. 
The coarse Lomaria vestita forms pure patches. Nephrodium 
tuberosum (N. hirsutum) is worthy of special note because of its 
large root tubercles. The epiphytic ferns are more numerous, 
especially species of Polypodium—for example, P. obliquatum, 
the smaller P. hirtellum, the climbing P. rupestris, and the 
smallest of polypodies, P. cucullatum. The thick, leathery, 
15 inch leaves of Elaphoglossum one would hardly suspect as 
being those of a fern. Among the ‘‘filmy’’ ferns is the tiniest 
of all ferns, Hymenophyllum paniculiflorum, whose delicate 
lacy frond measures less than an inch in length. The lycopodium, 
L. volubile, is very prolific at this altitude. 
Mosses are again exceedingly abundant in the lower half of 
the fourth subzone. Every tree and vine is covered with a 
thick mat of reeking wet moss (PLATE 17, FIG. 1). That is, 
there is here a second ‘“‘moss zone.’’ It is evident that “moss 
zone,” which has been used by ecologists as a descriptive term 
in connection with mountain rain-forest regions, may be in- 
accurate. 
The mosses of the fourth and second subzones differ strikingly 
in type. Those of the second subzone are mostly festooning 
types, loose in form, growing in long, pendent streamers. In 
the higher and more windy fourth subzone the mosses are all 
of a compact, tufted type, well adapted to hold water. A com- 
parison of the two photographs, PLATE 16, Fic. 2, and PLATE 
17, Fic. 1, will help visualize the pronounced difference in 
moss type of these two zones. An enumeration of genera would 
further emphasize the marked altitudinal distribution of mosses 
on Mt. Gedeh. Of thirty-two species collected and identified 
