SEIFRIZ: PLANTS ON MT. GEDEH, JAVA 303 
decked with lichens instead. An idea of the completeness of 
the change can be had by comparing the photographs on 
PLATE 17. 
Both sections of this high altitude subzone receive ample 
precipitation, but the upper half is considerably more open in 
character and more wind-swept. The complete absence of 
mosses in the upper part of the zone is probably due to the effect 
of dessicating winds at the higher altitude, where even compact, 
tufted mosses would ke unable to retain moisture. The presence 
of lichens in the upper half of the zone and their absence in the 
lower section is possibly due, in part, to better illumination 
and, in part, to lack of mosses in the upper region. Certain it 
is that the profuse moss covering of the lower half of the subzone 
leaves no spot where a lichen might subsist. 
Having reached a second lichen flora it is instructive to 
compare the lichens found at the higher altitude with those of 
the first subzone at Tjibodas. Of sixty-seven species of lichens 
collected none are common to both the first and the fourth sub- 
zones, with one possible exception. Among the fourth subzone 
lichens are four species of Parmelia, a Phaeographis, and a 
Cetraria (Nephromopsis); the latter is the most common lichen 
at this altitude, growing goals! in large, fluffy, cream- 
colored patches. 
V. THE EDELWEISS SUBZONE 
(9,400 feet) 
On emerging from the last stand of trees which ends the 
fourth subzone on Mt. Gedeh (PLATE 17, FIG. 2), quite a dif- 
ferent type of vegetation confronts one. Plant life is sparse. 
Only one genus of tree exists and it averages not over 12 feet 
in height. The two characteristic plants of the alpine flora of 
the fifth subzone are the shrub, Anaphalis javanica (one of the 
Compositae), and the small tree Albizzia montana (FG. 7). 
e former, with flowers of soft grayish-white color, is the 
edelweiss of Java. Other plants typical of this open alpine 
formation on the lava floor of the old crater of Gedeh are 
the crinkly leaved tree-shrub Myrica javanica, the dwarf 
Rhododendron, the dwarf Vaccinium varingiaefolium, and the 
Shrub Gaultheria leucocarpa with tiny pale pink flowers, white 
berries, and leaves of a pronounced and very agreeable winter- 
