Journal of the Federated Malay States museums - Sabrizain.org

136 Journal oj the F.M.S. Museums. [Vol. VIj
Burniamiia longifolia, Becc. Podocarpus neriifolia, Don*
Eria ferox, Bl. Lycopodinm ceylanicum,
Spathoglottis aurea, Lindl. Spring.
Smilax IcBvis, Wall. Lycopodmm casuarinoides.
Spring.
The plants marked t have not yet been found in any part
of the Malay Peninsula, except on Gunong Tahan. I have in
this list excluded the Ferns, which are mostly widely distributed.
There are also a number of species on Gunong Tahan
very closely allied to species on Kinabalu, such as Rhododendron
elegans, Ridl., allied to R. cuneifoliwn, Stapf ; Psychotria
demiflora, Stapf, allied to Ps. condensa, King.
The occurrence of these plants seems to show a former
land-connection with Kinabalu, as many are species which
have neither drupaceous (bird-borne) or wind-borne seeds.
ABSENCE OF THE HIMALAYAN ELEMENT.
As shown in a paper on the flora of the Telom valley in
Perak, we have there a distinct Himalayo-Javanese element
represented by such plants as Viola, Sanicula, Sarcopyramis,
and Disporum. This type of flora seems to be remarkably
absent from the Tahan region, as it is from Mt. Ophir and
Kedah Peak.
We have, it is true, a series which seem to have come
from the Himalayas, but are also Burmese and occur elsewhere
in the Peninsula, e.g. Pyvus and Eriohotrya ; Hedychium
collinum, allied to a species from Burmah and also occurring
on Kedah Peak, seems to have crept downwards from the
north. The Hamamelideae {Bucklaudia smd A Itingia) and the
Saxifragacese (Itea) also occur in the Himalayas and Java.
THE AUSTRALIAN ELEMENT.
All through the Malay Peninsula we lind scattered a
number of plants which have at least affinities with plants
characteristic of Australia or belong to characteristic Australian
genera. A greater part of this class of plants disappears
north and west of the Peninsula, being absent from the Indian
and Ceylon regions.
In the Malay Peninsula they occur on the sea-shore and
on the higher parts of the mountains, being absent from the
intervening forest-regions. They persist, in fact, in our only
xerophytic districts—the sea-coasts and the more xerophytic
parts of the higher mountains. They are missing from the
wet forest-hills of Perak, although the altitude of these hills is
as high or often higher than the xerophytic zone of Mt. Ophir,
where they occur.
All, or almost all, of these Australian plants have been
met with in similar localities in the islands lying east of the area
lying between the Malay Peninsula and Australia, and with an
increasing number of species the nearer we get to Australia.