101 



I 



Besides by means of its rhizomes the grass easily and rapidly 

 multiplies by its myriads of fruits. When these are ripe, the articulate 

 branches of the panicle break into small fragments to which the 

 fructiferous spikelets remain attached; finally only the naked main 

 axis of the inflorescence with the bases of the lateral axes is left. 

 In consequence of their being clothed with long hairs the fructifer- 

 ous spikelets are easily dispersed by wind. Where the spikelets 

 have fallen to the ground or on other plants they may be easily 

 carried on high again by every strong gust of wind and may, in 

 this manner, be conveyed over a distance of several hundreds of 

 meters from the mother-plant. It is unknown how far the wind can 

 carry them across the sea ') but it has not yet been proven that 

 in a single flight they can traverse a distance of more than 20 km. 



Junghuhn -) found in August 1837 a dense Sacc/ian/m-jungle 

 on the gigantic mud-stream (lahar) which 15 years before (Oct- 1822) 

 had flown from Mount Galunggung. This mud-stream is situated in 

 a region where the 4 driest months of the year possess together 40 

 a 60 rain-days, hence, on an average, a rain-day alternates with but 

 12 dry days. Consequently there is no question of the lower soil- 

 layers drying out very much, ,,der ganze Boden ist von Feuchtigkeit 

 durchdrungen" >) and the opportunity for a 5c?cc/)ar(//n-vegetation to 

 develop in that locality was extraordinarily favorable. The description 

 given by ) u n g h u h n /l ) of G/ag<.ih and the vegetation formed by it 

 is so very vivid and at the same time so correct that I cannot resist 

 the temptation to copy it here: ,,Mehrere andere eben so hohe oder 

 ,,noch hohere Crasarten kommen hier und da, teils vereinzelt, dem 

 ,,AIang alang untermengt, teils gruppenweise zerstreut darin vor . . . 

 ,,vor alien andem die beriichtigte Glagah, Saccharum spontaneum L., 

 ,,dessen rohrartige fingerdicke Stengel mit ihren langen Blattern und 

 ,,iiberhangenden Bliitenrispen so hoch emporragen, dass Ross und 



M Spikelets dropped into the sea can no more be carried upwards by the wind. 

 But it may be possible that after having been transported by sea-currents, they are 

 washed ashore on Krakatao. After having dried on the beach they might be carried 

 by wind into the interior. The gregarious growth of this grass on the older parts of 

 the beach at Zwarte Hoek at the base of the rupture might be explained in this 

 manner. But it is just as possible that Saccharum has reached this beach from the 

 interior of the island. It is unknown how long fruits of Saccharum spontaneum can 

 float on the sea without losing their germinative power. None of the authors on the 

 new flora of Krakatao seems to have made any experiment in order to ascertain this. 

 In accordance with the venerable recipe it was much more easy to have fruits intro- 

 duced by a paper wind. 



2 ) | u n g h u h n, Reisen durch Java (1845), p. 216 (under the name of Saccharum 

 Klaga) and ]ava, 2nd Dutch Edition II, 158, 159 (under the name of Imperata Glagah). 



3 ) | u n g h u h n, Reisen durch Java (1845), p. 216. 



4 ) ) u n g h u h n, lava, 2nd Dutch Edition I, 290, German Edition I, 212, 



