26 HISTORY OF SANTUBONG, SARAWAK. 
the plant life is completely exposed to the rays of a fierce trop- 
ical sun: at other times it is subjected to raging winds or tor- 
rential rains. In accordance with these conditions, the vege- 
tation here is mostly of stunted trees and shrubs whose leaves 
are in many cases small and leathery : they are in fact typically 
Xerophytic. ; 
On the top of this narrow mountain ridge we find an 
assembly of plants of wide distribution practically :all of them 
being found on the summits of other mountains in Sarawak. 
The great majority of them have tiny seeds which no doubt 
are carried great distances by the wind—a fact which sufficient- 
ly explains the wide distribution of the plants in question. 
Here are several species of handsome rhododendrons inelud- 
ing &. malayanwm, R. verticrilatum and R. lacteum a white 
flowered species occurring also on Kina Balu: several other 
Hricaceae including Dziplycosia consobrina: amongst Myr- 
sineae are a species of Ardisza, several species of Hmbelia and 
Myrsine capitellata distributed throughout the Archipelago and 
Ceylon: a white flowered Alyxza abounding in a Sticky gutta : 
Baeckia frutescens found throughout the archipelago and South 
China, and a Hugenia apparently confined to mountain tops 
in Sarawak: a Pygewn which often appears on mountains in 
Malaya: a small leaved variety of Hurya japonica and a Tern- 
stroemra also found at Matang: Melastoma boryanum. also.on 
the summit of Matang and a species of Allomorphia: Cratoxylon 
microphyllwm taken on the mountains of the Peninsula: Kwr- 
rimia paniculata: Leucopogon malayanum. of wide distribu- 
tion in Malaya: a magnificent pitcher plant, Nepenthes Veitch 
in whose large pitchers a tree frog habitually lays her eggs: 
several orchids including the tiny Corysanthes fornicata, one 
or two Hrias (E. triloba and EH. aurea) Coelogyne bilamellata, 
Bromheadia scirpoidea, Bulbophyllum odoratum and a Platy- 
clinis : the liliaceous Dianella ensifolia which reaches up to 
the Himalayas and stretches from Polynesia to Madagascar : a 
mountain Casuarina apparently C. montana var. robustior : 
the conifer Podocarpus (Dacrydium) falceifornis : the ferns 
Dipteris horsfieldi, and Matoma pectinata. In damp places 
on the ground is a thick feltwork of Sphagnum moss and here 
Jour. Straits Branch 
