CH. v.] Mountain Vegetation. 99 



one place a shower of small scai'let rhododendron flowers 

 covered the ground at our feet, the plant being epiphytal 

 in the ti-ees overhead. It was very misty, and the moss 

 which covered every rotten stick, and the vegetation 

 generally, was dripping with moisture, and every sapling 

 we grasped in climbing upwards was the means of shaking 

 a shower-bath on us from the trees above. At about five 

 thousand feet a dead and broken pitcher of Nepenthes Lowi 

 lying in the path led to the discovery of the plant itself 

 scrambhng among the mossy branches overhead, its 

 singular flagon-shaped ascidia hanging from the point of 

 every leaf. It is a vigorous-habited plant, with bright 

 green leathery leaves, the petioles of which clasp the 

 stem in a peculiar manner. The only plants we saw 

 were epiphytal on mossy trunks and branches, and we 

 searched for young plants diligently, but without success. 

 All the pitchers hitherto seen are cauHne ones, and as 

 the plant has never yet been seen in a young state, it is 

 an open question as to whether the radical pitchers difi'er 

 in shape or size, as is the case with most other species. 

 As we ascended higher, epiphytal orchids, especially 

 erias, dendrochiha, and coelogynes became more plentiful, 

 and we came upon a large-flowered rhododendron, bear- 

 ing rich orange flowers two inches in diameter, and twenty 

 flowers in a cluster ! It grew on a dangerous declivity, 

 and not one of our lazy men would venture to get it for 

 us. Such a prize, however, was too lovely to forego, and 

 after a wet scramble among the surrounding bushes, I 

 secured it in good condition. Two or three other species 

 were seen in flower, but none equal to it in its golden 

 beautJ^ Casuarina trees became common, and higher up 

 these were joined by two or three species of gleichenias, 

 and a distinct form of dipteris. PhyUocladus also ap- 

 peared, and a glaucus-leaved dianella (D. javanica). 



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