Tas. 7654. 
ALNUS niripa. 
Native of the Western Himalaya. 
Nat. Ord. Curutirera.—Tribe BETULEA. 
Genus Anus, Geertn.; (Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Plant, vol. iti. p. 404.) 
Anus (Clethropsis) nitida; arbor elata, ramulis brunneis novellis puberulis, 
foliis ovatis v. ovato-lanceolatis acuminatis integerrimis v. crenato- 
serratis glaberrimis lete viridibus lucidis basi rotundatis v. cuneatis 
subtus pallidioribus punctulis resiniferis notatis, axillis nervorum bar- 
bellatis, infl. masc. et fem. cowtaneis, spicis masc. apices versus 
-ramulorum solitariis v. paucis elongatis filiformibus puberulis, floribus 
glomeratis bracteatis miuutis tetrandris, sepalis 4 obovatis apicibus 
dentatis, spicis fem. 1-2-pcllicaribus axillaribus solitariis binisve erectis 
breviter pedunculatis florentibus sanguineis maturis oblongis obtusis 
-viridibus, bracteis minutis arcte imbricatis, bracteolis quadrifidis demum 
in laminam 4-fidam stipitatam connatis, ovariis minimis orbicularibus 
compressis, stylis 2 linearibus obtusis complanatis, nuculis orbicularibus 
obcordatisve stylis coronatis marginibus incrassatis. 
A. nitida, Endl. Gen. Pl. Suppl. iv. pars II. p. 20. Regel in DO. Prodr. 
vol. xvi. pars I. p. 181, et Monogr. Bet. p. 82, t. 14, fig. 23-30. Brand. For. 
Flor, p. 460, t. 57. Gamble Man. Ind. Timbers, p. 373. Hook, f. Fl. 
Brit. Ind. vol. v. p. 600. 
Clethropsis nitida, Spach in Ann. Se. Nat. Sér. IL. vol. xv. p. 202; et in 
Jacquem. Voy. Bot. p. 158, t. 159. 
The Western Himalayan Alder (A. nitida) is a very 
handsome tree, that does not occur-east of the Sutlej river, 
but extends from thence westward, at elevations of 4000 to 
9000 ft., to Kashmir and Afghanistan. In the Eastern 
Himalaya it is replaced by A. nepalensis, Don, which, 
commencing from a little westward of the Sutlej (in 
Chamba) extends thence throughout the range to Burma 
and Western China. It has not as yet been introduced 
into England. The wood of A. nitida is used in the 
manufacture of bedsteads, and the lithe branches form 
ropes for the construction of suspension bridges, and for 
tying loads of wood. The bark is used for dyeing and 
tanning purposes. 
Seeds of A. nitida were sent to the Royal Gardens, Kew, 
together with those of many other western Himalayan 
plants, by the late R. Ellis, Esq., of the Forest Depart- 
ment, from Pangi, in 1882, from which the plant here 
May Ist, 1899, 
