56 AN ACCOUNT OF A BOTANICAL EXPEDITION 



ground, such plants as Amorphophalkis, Zingibcraccae, Habe- 

 naria and other terrestrial tuberous or rhizcmatous plants ; 

 at the same time many of the trees become quite leafless, 

 remaining so for a considerable period. In the Malay Peninsula 

 ascertain number of trees, e.g. Dyera, Cratoxylon, Lager stroemia 

 etc. become leafless at times but remain only a day or so in 

 that state when the young leaves appear. In the Siamese 

 region a considerable proportion of the trees become leafless in 

 March and April and remain so for a considerable period, giving 

 quite a wintry look to the landscape. During my visit the 

 ricefields were quite dried up at Alor Sta. the grasses brown, 

 small leguminosae dried up, Xyris inclica quite withered to the 

 base, a state of affairs never to be seen in the south, where 

 the smaller plants remain green throughout the year. 



Besides this climatic difference there is also a difference 

 in rock-formation. The rocks of the South of the Peninsula 

 are mainly of granite, and shales, those of the Northern Siamese 

 region of limestone and sandstone. There is however granite 

 at Gunong Raya in the Lankawi islands, and the flora there 

 to a certain extent resembles that of Penang. The limestone 

 rock occurs in detached blocks down both sides of the Penin- 

 sula as far south as the Batu Caves of Selangor, and these 

 rocks contain a number of plants not found elsewhere, than 

 the limestone rocks of Setul and Perlis but the greater part of 

 the Southern limestone flora is of a Malayan type. 



A certain number of the sandy country plants of the 

 Northern region have found their way down along the coast 

 line and appear in similar spots in Pahang, but' the contrast 

 between the poor sand hill flora of Pekan, a large percentage 

 of which are typical Malayan genera, or of widely distributed 

 weeds, and the rich flora of the Setul heaths is very striking. 



The difference between the flora of the Malay Peninsula 

 south of Alor Sta and that of the country north is shown by 

 the list of genera occurring in this latter region and absent 

 from the Malay Peninsula so far as is known at present. 

 ' This list would be increased considerably by the addition of 

 other species which have been met with occasionally only on 



Jour. Straits Branch 



