178 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
fauna and flora. From Java it differs not a little in 
both. One of the most characteristic features of the 
Sumatran flora is the superabundance of the lalang and 
glaga —rank and worthless grasses which cover a vast 
extent of ground in the plateau region, and flourish at 
comparatively low altitudes, while in Java they are not 
met with much below 3000 feet. This pest is one of 
RAFFLESIA ARNOLDII. 
the most troublesome with which the agriculturist has to 
deal, as cleared and fallow land becomes rapidly covered 
and the soil exhausted. Among characteristic plants are 
the enormous Baffoesias (B. Arnoldii , B. Hasseltii ), the 
largest flowers in the world, and the giant arum, Amorpho- 
phallus titanum , sometimes seventeen feet or more in 
height, and with tubers seven feet in circumference. The 
Melastomas, Ternstroemiaceae, Cyrtandraceae, and Erio- 
