14 DR. HOOKER'S MISSION TO INDIA. 
which ascend to 7,500 feet, but not of Smilax and some other sub- 
tropical genera. Ficus and Pepper both reach the base of the ridge, 
7,500 feet, but are not found higher. By the little streams, Viola, 
Lobelia, Chrysosplenium, and Mimulus, form verdant masses with chick- 
weed. Five species of Rubus ascend to the summit: amongst them 
is a creeping white-flowered one, bearing large scarlet fruit. Lardizabala 
is common, and a small Ampelopsis, and a tufted Vaccinium. 1 did not 
observe a single Labiate, or Leguminose, and scarcely a Composite 
plant, except Ainsliea, one species of which flowers in spring, the other 
in autumn. Urticee are very numerous and succulent. Some small 
trees of Styrax? bear a profusion of white flowers, which lie like snow 
. on the ground underneath: there are two species abont Darjeeling. 
But of all things that fall on the ground here, the most remarkable 
objects are the vivid red outer petals and sepals of the Magnolia. 
This magnificent tree is leafless during the flowering season (April), 
presenting only a few irregular branches from a trunk sixty to eighty 
feet in height, covered with a whitish bark. The flowers (resembling 
those of a Lotus) are terminal, oddly inserted, and, as well as 
their peduncles, brittle, and therefore easily damaged by the wind. 
There are two species, a larger and smaller-flowered, and I have the 
foliage of two others. At this height the common white-flowered 
Michelia, which I presume may be Wallich's Magnolia excelsa, is not so 
abundant as lower down, at 7,000 feet; where its frequency causes 
the trees, during its blossoming time, to look as if snowed upon. 
Like our hawthorn, &c., it does not bloom with equal profusion every 
year; but this season both it, the Chestnut, and the Oak are now 
unusually luxuriant. 
The Rhododendron which abounds on this ridge is the R. argenteum.* 
It is inferior in size to the Oaks, Magnolias, Ilex, and Pruni and Pyri 
of the region, but individually it is far more abundant. Apparently 
the flowering has been very scanty this year. As is the case with most 
of the genus, it branches from the root: in this species the branches 
are as thick as the human body, or nearly so, covered with pale pinkish 
papery bark, twenty to forty feet long, inclined, compressed, sparingly 
. divided towards the apex: the ramuli also, are few, and leafy only at 
the apices.T 
* Hooker’s Rhododendrons of Sikkim Himalaya, tab. 9. 
= + The other Darjeeling species, which is conspicuous for its scarlet blossoms, is 
the R. Campbellie (vide Rhododendrons of Sikkim Himalaya, tab. 6.) 
