122 mr. c. b. Clarke's botanic notes 



Polygonatum siBiRicuM is on Tonglo top at 10,000 ped. alt. 



I 



There is another plant at 8000 ped. alt. like a Polygonatum ; 

 but the berries have 6-8 seeds in each cell ; leaves alternate, 

 short, petiolate, ovate-lanceolate, very acute, striate ; peduncles 

 axillary, cymosely 2-7-flowered ; berries large, pendulous. 



Smilacina purpurea, Wallich 



alt. 



At 8000 ped. alt. I collected a very large Smilacina in fruit, 

 of which the following is the description. 



Smilacina, sp. Caulis simplex 8-pedalis superne hirtellus. Folia 

 petiolata cordato-ovata valde acuminata yenoso-striata glabra. Pani- 

 cula terminalis pubescens composita 8-12-pollicaris, ramis uumerosis 

 elongatis 10-25-floris : pedicellis imdique divaricatis semipollicaribus. 



■ - 



Paris polyphylla, Don, is frequent at 7000-10,000 ped. alt. 



There is one large Smilax at 9000 ped. alt., and a dwarf 

 Smilax (barely a foot high) from 9000-10,000 ped. alt. 



Dioscorea, so abundant in species and individuals at low levels 

 in Sikkim, I did not observe above 7000 feet. 



Balanophore.e. 



- 



Balanophora dioica, Wallich, is frequent at 7000-9000 ped. alt. 



4 



Co^IFER^E. 



11 The rarity of pines is perhaps the most curious feature in 



the botany of Tonglo and on the outer ranges of Sikkim ; for 



between the level of 2500 feet (the upper limit of Pinus longi- 



folia, Roxb.) and 10,000 feet (that of Taxus baccata, L.) there is 



no Coniferous tree whatever in southern Sikkim." 



So Dr. Hooker, correctly. That is, after leaving Darjeeling 

 station (where Cryptomeria japonica, Don, Pinus Webbiana, and 

 other Conifers are cultivated), no Pine whatever is seen to Tonglo 

 top except a very few yews below the top. Immediately above 

 10,000 feet in Sikkim the pines come in again in force. And 

 below 2500 feet there is not only P. longifolia, Eoxb., but Po- 

 docarpus neriifolia, Don, P. macrophylla y Don, and Onetum scan- 

 dens, Roxb. 



A still more curious fact is that, though Pinus longifolia, Roxb., 

 in Sikkim does not ascend above 2500 feet (I have never seen it 

 quite ho high), yet in the much colder north-west Himalaya the 

 wlf-samc species ascends to 6000 feet. 



