144 SURG.-MAJ. J, E. T. AITCHISON ON THE FLORA OF 
large tussocks, is very striking, owing to the absence of other 
vegetation generally than to any peculiarity of its own. 
Along the banks of the Zérán and Malána streams, and on 
the sides of the watercourses up to 6000 feet altitude, but 
not further west, Iris ensata is common, growing in clumps 
as in Kashmír, but certainly not in the same luxuriant pro- 
fusion. At the base of the low hills, at an elevation of 6000 
feet, extending westward nearly to the Shend-toi and east- 
ward beyond Zérán, I met with a shrub, about 2 feet in height, 
growing in isolated, densely-matted, cushion-like masses. When 
first seen, it was covered with heads of bright rose-coloured 
flowers, which were greedily browsed by goats and sheep. It 
belongs to the Rubiacea, and is the new genus Aitchisonia 
described by Mr. Hemsley. It is allied very closely to Leptoder- 
mis, and will probably have to be placed between that and the 
genus Putoria. Its leaves, when bruised, exhale an extremely 
fetid odour, a peculiarity common to the above-named genera. 
One of the more interesting features in this plant (4ifehi- 
sonia rosea) is that it is dimorphic; and, as far as we yet know, 
the dimorphism extends only to the styles, which in some flowers 
are long, in others short, the stamens remaining the same as to 
length and position. 
At the village of Zörân, cultivated in a sacred grove, I this 
year came across one large old tree and several smaller younger 
ones of Pinus halepensis. It seems to be cultivated throughout 
Afghánistán from Kandahar to Jellâllabâd. I must say that I 
was disappointed at this pine not turning out a new species, for 
the sake of my friend Dr. Cattell, F.L.S., who in this Kabul 
expedition, as Surgeon to the 10th Hussars, was the first to send 
specimens to Sir Joseph Hooker at Kew, recognizing it as a 
different pine to the ordinary Himalayan ones. Sir J. D. Hooker, 
deceived by Griffith having sent cones of this with leaves of 
P. excelsa, at first supposed it to be a new species. He himself, 
however, discovered the mistake, and referred Dr. Cattell's 
specimens rightly to P. halepensis before receiving mine. 
Vegetation of the Valleys of the Zérán, Malána, and Darbán 
Streams. 
On the ascent of the Zérán and Malána gorges, on the faces of 
