92 



forming a dense net-work over grasses, shrubs and small 

 trees. In Java it is very common in the fes-caprae-formation 

 and in young Barringtonia-iormations; rarely it is found in 

 thickets in the interior. The ripe fruit is a whitish spurious 

 berry consisting of the rather thin fleshy perianth including 

 the dry, one-seeded fruit proper. Both Sc him per and 

 Ernst ') assert that these spurious berries are eaten by 

 birds; G u p p y 2 ) found them in the gizzard of frugivorous 

 birds. The fruits which have not been eaten by birds finally 

 fall off, still enveloped by the then withered perianth; they 

 possess a well-developed floating power because of the 

 fruit-cavity not being entirely filled up by the seed. At 

 Buitenzorg they remained floating for somewhat more than 

 a week on a 3 '/>_>% solution of NaCl. Consequently the fruits 

 of this species may be transported by water, but probably the 

 dispersal is, sometimes at least, brought about by birds also. 

 If such is really the case, the rare occurrence of the plant 

 in the interior far above high-tide mark :i ) finds a natural 

 explanation. But only semination of seeds found in bird- 

 droppings can furnish the required proof. 



Leguminosac. 



8. Cu/kMd//<j rosc<i D.C. (In Penzig's paper named C obtusifo- 

 lia L). C). See p. 89. 



A rather common plant of the /^es-Ccjp/'de-formation, with 

 far-creeping, never twining stems. It has often been confused 

 with C. vbtusifolitj D.C, which, according to Prain, is a 

 twining species; it has also been confounded with C. lineata 

 D. C. The reproduction is effected as well by ramification 

 of the creeping stems as by seeds. The pods burst open 

 when ripe; the seeds '') possess floating power. 



[ ) Sc lii MI per, Indo-Malayische Strandflora (18111), p. 188, Ernst, Neue Flora 

 Vulkaninsel Krakatau (1907), p. 11. It set-Mis tliat in the Buitenzorg Botanical Gardens 

 the fruits, though plentifully produced and by their whitish hue conspicuous from afar, 

 are not much sought after by birds. Of course this by no mean proves that such is 

 also the case on the beach. 



2 ) H e m s I e y. Challenger Reports, Botany I, pp. 43 44. 



;; ) In 19'2.~> Dr. |. Coert and I found a specimen of this plant (together with 

 several specimens of Acrostic/turn aureum /..) in thickets surrounding a salt spring 

 near Ngantang (west of Malang, |ava) at an altitude of somewhat more than 000 m. 

 above sea-level. Another specimen was found in 1911 at Bajah in West-lava, also far 

 from the sea. Dr. C. van D i I I e w ij n and I found yet another one in '1927 on the dry 

 calcareous hills of Grisee some 50 meters above sea-level and about 4 km. from the sea. 



') Sc him per, Indo-Malayische Strandflo-a (1801), p. 100. 



