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

IX.] NATURAL HISTORY OF THE IXDO-MALAY ISLANDS. 107peninsula. Among the more characteristic forms of this floraare the rattans—climbing palms of the genus Calamus, and agreat variety of tall as well as stemless palms. Orchids,Aracese, Zingiberacete, and ferns are especially^ abundant, andthe genus Gramraatophyllum—a gigantic epiphytal orchid,whose clusters of lea\-es and flower-stems are ten or twelve feetlong—is peculiar to it. Here, too, is the domain of the wonderfulpitcher plants (Nepenthacea-), which are only represented else-GRAMMATOrnYLUM, A GIGANTIC ORCHID.where by solitary species in Ceylon, Madagascar, the Seychelles,Celebes, and the Moluccas. Those celebrated _fruits, theMangosteen and the Durian, are natives of tliis region, and willhardly grow out of the Archipelago. The mountain plants ofJava have already been alluded to as showing a former connexionwith the continent of Asia ; and a still more extraordinaryand more ancient connexion with Australia has beenindicated by Mr. Low's collections from the summit of Kinibalou,the loftiest mountain in Borneo.Plants have much greater facilities for passing across arms ofthe sea than animals. The lighter seeds are easily carried bythe winds, and many of tliem are specially adapted to be so