Journal of the Federated Malay States museums - Sabrizain.org

* Teku
132 Journal of the F.MS. Museums. [Vol. VI,
THE PADANG WOODS.
The margins of the streams are fringed with dense woods
for the most part, the thickest part of the woods with the
largest trees being near the source. 'Jhe trees, however,
are by no means large, few reaching to 60 feet tall. These
woods run up to nearly 6,000 feet altitude ; at one point on the
River at 4,500 feet the forest is much larger and the
trees bigger. I will speak of these Teku woods later.
In some parts of the Padang woods the forest consists
of small trees 2 or 3 inches through, and so close that there
are only a few inches between them. It is impossible to
get through these without cutting one's way every step. The
ground is covered with dense deep moss, in which grows
Cypripediwn Rohinsonii, Elaphoglossuvi decurrens, Geostachys
elegnns, Protoltrion, Nepenthes Macfarlanei, Biirmannin longifolia,
etc. : while on the trees are Dendrobmm hynienopterum,
Bulbophyllum rostratmn, B. galbinnm, Phreatia crassifolia, and
Obivonia condensata, magnificent plants of Coelogyne Dayana,
var. Massangeana, and the pretty little Bulbophyllum Skeaiia-
nuvi. In the more open spaces over the streams we find
Schitna noronhce, Ilex patens, Altingia sp., Pieris ovalifolia,
Melastoma sp., and Rhododendron jasminiflorum.
On the stream edges lined with mosses and hepatics
we find the three little Utricularias, and here, too, grow
Xyris grandis, Argostemmas, and on the stones, in such a
position that they must be often submerged, are Anerincleistus
fruticosus, Scirpus Clarkei and Rhnacophila. The ferns of this
district are all of a xerophytic type Dipteris, Matonia, Polypodium,
and Gleichenia,—the hygrophytic Lastrcea and Alsophila,
with the Selaginellas, being confined to the damp forests or to
wet shady banks.
Of Cryptogams I collected a good many mosses and
hepatics, but have been unable to work them out at present.
Mosses are extremely abundant, at least in amount, the damp
forests by the stream edges being deeply carpeted with
them, and in some of the cold dark woods just above the
Gully and on the Padang the trees are draped in curtains
of olive-coloured mosses. Hepaticae are abundant by the
stream. Lichens are less conspicuous, with the exception
of Usnea dasypoga, which drapes the bushes of Boeckia and
other shrubs in the bleakest and windiest spots, and Cladonia
macilenta and rangiferina, which form clumps on the ground.
Epiphyllous lichens occur on coriaceous leaves in the woods,
but are bj' no means as common as in the low country.
Fungi are conspicuously scanty, and, from the remarkable
duration of dead sticks on the Padang, seem to be actually
very few in number. Some of the sticks erected by Mr.
Robinson in 1906 for surveying purposes seemed to be
quite sound and undecayed.
I found one fructification of the common Polystictus
i^niarius at the Camp, which may have been brought up