xn.c,4 Brown, Merrill and Yates: Volcano Island 191 
and Trema orientalis; and, as we have seen it may very well have 
been true of Acacia farnesiana. 
All of the trees of any prominence occuring on the island are 
characteristic of parang. They are small species, which have 
a rapid rate of growth and mature early. Acacia farnesiana 
and Tabernaemontana subglobosa might perhaps be as well 
termed shrubs as trees, but for convenience we have used the 
latter term. The small size of the trees can be seen from the 
data given in Table I, which is compiled from Merrill’s Flora of 
Manila-^* 
Table I . — Mature height of common trees on Volcano Island. 
Species. 
Height in 
meters. 
Ficus indica 
4-12 
Acacia farnesiana 
2-4 
Eugenia jambolana 
4-15 
Trema orientalis 
5-8 
Tabernaemontana subglobosa 
2-5 
Morinda bracteata 
3-10 
Pithecolobium dulce 
5-18 
Antidesma bunius 
4-10 
Antidesma ghaesembilla 
4-10 
Owing to the rapidity with which most of the tree species 
mature, large quantities of seed have already been produced on 
Volcano Island. Many of the species frequently produce seed 
when much less than 1 meter in height. We have seen that most 
of the prominent trees have fruits that are readily scattered 
by birds. As an illustration of the facility with which seeds 
are distributed in this way, we may mention a case observed 
in a clearing of 0.25 hectare on Mount Maquiling at an altitude 
of 450 meters. In a few months the ground was covered by 
a second-growth forest consisting largely of Trema orientalis. 
The nearest observed plants of this species were about 3 kilo- 
meters distant and approximately 250 meters lower in elevation. 
There were certainly few if any individuals nearer than this, 
as the clearing was made in the center of the virgin forest, and 
Trema is so intolerant of shade that it will not grow under the 
cover of even the most open second-growth trees. 
It seems from the above that enough seeding must have taken 
place on Volcano Island to produce a denser tree vegetation than 
that which now exists. Moreover, the scarcity of any particular 
species or of trees in general is certainly not due to competition, 
” Merril, E. D., A Flora of Manila. Manila (1912) 1-490. 
