The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

90 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.the blocks of rock and scoria that form tlie mountain slope arecompletely hidden in a mossy vegetation. At about 8,000 feetEuropean forms of plants become abundant. Several species ofHoneysuckle, St. John's-wort, and Guelder-rose abound, and atabout 9,000 feet we first meet -with the rare and beautiful RoyalCowslip (Primula imperialis),which is saidto be found nowhereelse in the world buton this solitary mountainsummit. It hasa tall, stout stem,sometimes more thanthree feet higli, theroot leaves are eighteeninches long, andit bears several whorlsof cowslip-like flowers,instead of a terminalcluster only. The foresttrees, gnarled anddwarfed to the dimensionsof bushes, reachup to the very rim ofthe old crater, but donot extend over thehollow on its summit.Here we find a gooddeal of open ground,with thickets of shrubbyArtemisias andGnaphaliums, likeour southernwood andcudweed, but six oreight feet high ; whileButtercups, Violets,Whortle-berries, Sowthistles,Chickweed,white and yellow Cruciferae,Plantain, andannual grasses everywhereabound. WherePRIMULA IMPERIALIS.there are bushes andshrubs the St. John's-wort and Honeysuckle grow abundantly,Avhile tlie Imperial Cowslip only exhibits its elegant blossomsunder tlie damp shade of the thickets.Mr. ^Motley, who visited the mountain in the dry season, andi:)aid much attention to botany, gives the following list of generacliaracteristic of distant and more temperate regions :—Twospecies of Violet, three of Ranunculus, three of Impatiens, eight