FBOM DAKJEELINQ TO TONGLO. 385 



111 



which stauds Deodunga (Mt. Everest), the highest mountain 

 the world: somewhat to the right is Einchiujunga, its summit 

 about 45 miles off still, but several of its big peaks (Pundim, 

 Kubra, &c.) much nearer. Indeed, in some states of atmospheric 

 refraction, Kinchinjunga seems to tower above you at Sunduk- 

 phoo. These snows are the setting of a superb foreground. The 

 mountain of Sundukphoo is a fine one, and its shoulders fall 

 away so that from the summit you can follow with the eye far 

 down its flanks ; the masses of rock are interspersed with large 

 patches of bright-green grass, over which is scattered, in very 

 loose order, Abies Webbiana, Lindl., the type form, with trun- 

 cated rigid heads and black-green foliage. The Rhododendrons, 

 trees and shrubs, of various colours, reach for miles, and look 

 like columns of troops converging on Sundukphoo, the summit 

 of which the heads of the columns have just reached. The Rho- 

 dodendrons w r ere in a blaze when I was there on 5th June, 1884. 

 I append to this paper a list of the plants which I actually 

 brought back from Tonglo and Suudukphoo from the present ex- 

 cursion. It must not be supposed to be at all a complete represen- 

 tation of the early spring vegetation : I only attempted to collect 

 from 7000 to 12,000 feet altitude such plants as I knew I could 

 not easily get near Darjeeling at 7000-8000 feet altitude. More- 

 over I was much hurried, I had poor weather (poor for Tonglo 

 even), and all my servants fell ill. Still I do not think that I could, 

 with every collecting advantage, obtain on this ridge in spring so 

 many, or so many new, plants as I obtained on my former excur- 

 sion in September. I have been surprised (I am always sur- 

 prised over again) to see how late the spring is in Sikkim. In 

 Darjeeling itself on 8th June, 1884, there were many trees, 

 notably the Erythrina, so common in the station, that then 

 scarcely showed the leaves emerging; and on Sundukphoo, at 

 12,000 feet, Pyrus, Ribes, &c, were in flower without leaves. 

 This mountain-ridge has now been visited by many botanists, and 

 at the time the Ehododendrons are in bloom, and my appended 

 list contains hardly a single new species. 



I observed with interest the great variability of the Rhodo- 

 dendrons within a limited area (but with variety of level and 

 aspect) on Sundukphoo. The common species there, Rhodo- 

 dendron campanulatum, D. Don, varies from white to mauve and 

 pink, two shrubs close beside each other differing greatly in 

 colour ; moreover the corolla varies in size and shape, some of 



LIM. JOTJKN. — BOTJLXV, VOL. XXI. 2 E 



