XII, C, 4 
Brown, Merrill and Yates: Volcano Island 
213 
It is a common observation that the upper slopes of active 
volcanoes are usually very bare, and this is frequently the case 
even when there have been no recent eruptions. 
Schimper visited the volcano of Gunong Guntur in western 
Java many years after the vegetation had been completely des- 
troyed by an eruption and found the vegetation quite open and 
very poor. 
There are absolutely no trees, but shrubby and herbaceous plants of 
very various species were present. * * *. The most essential part was 
played by plants that grew as epiphytes in the neighboring woods, namely 
many orchids, as -well as several ferns and the shrubby Rhododendron. 
javanicmn, * * *. 
The picture that Schimper gives of this vegetation indicates 
that the ground was very largely bare and that, as on the larger 
part of Volcano Island, the plants were very scattered. 
Another interesting example of a sparse vegetation on a 
volcanic cone is afforded by the Gedeh in western Java. The 
active crater is a small cone within a much larger ancient crater. 
The slopes of the mountain and most of the ancient crater are 
covered by a dense and varied vegetation, while the slopes of 
the new cone, although signs of volcanic activity are very slight, 
show a very sparse vegetation. This mountain was visited by- 
Brown and Yates in 1917. On the active cone there were 
present only the following 9 species of higher plants and ferns : 
Gaultheria nummular ioides G. Don. 
Gaultheria leucocarpa Bl. 
Gaultheria fragrantissima Wall. 
Rhododendron retusum Benn. 
Vaccinium varingiifolium (Bl.) Miq. 
Anaphalis javanica Sch. 
Carex hypsophila Miq. 
Histiopteris incisa J. Sm. 
Polypodium feeii Bory. 
These include 5 Ericaceae, 1 composite, 1 sedge, and 2 xero- 
phytic ferns. These plants were very scattered and all were 
small, there being no specimen on the active cone that was more 
than 0.5 meter in height. The density of the vegetation was 
very similar to that shown in Schimper’s photograph taken or 
G unong Guntur. 
It seems evident that the invasion of soils of recent volcanic 
origin varies very greatly in different cases, and our present 
knowledge does not appear to justify us in trying to establish 
any general laws. 
Schimper, A. F. W., Plant-Geography upon a Physiological Basis. 
Eng. trans. by W. R. Fisher. Clarendon Press, Oxford (1903). 
