412 Lieut.-Col. Madden on some Plants 



confirmed by his specimen No. 2281. Taa^us baccata falcata. 

 Yew-tree, Anglorum. Hingwal Ka bara Saral montanorum, 

 Hind. Hamilton's Nepal, 83, 96, 117. Habitat in Nepalse 

 alpibus. The name signifies ' great Alpine Pine,' and is cer- 

 tainly misapplied, probably by the carelessness of the collectors ; 

 as ' small Alpine Pine' cannot belong to Picea Wehhiana, They 

 have most likely been interchanged. 



Zuccarini* constitutes a distinct species {Taxus Wallichiana) 

 for the Himalayan Yew ; but though the leaves are more curved, 

 and the berries smaller than in our European tree, the difference 

 is so trifling, that, with our knowledge of such a marked variety 

 as the Irish Yew generally reproducing the common form, a new 

 species seems uncalled for. Dr. Hooker (Journals, ii. 25) holds 

 that the Himalayan, the North American, and several connect- 

 ing links, all belong to Taxus baccata; he tells us (i. 186) that 

 the red bark is used as a dye, and for staining the foreheads of 

 the Brahmans in Nepal. The timber found by Layard in the 

 palaces of Nineveh, and pronounced by him to be Cedar, is in 

 reality Yew. 



Dr. Wallich (No. 6054, and Tent. Flor. Nep. t. 44. p. 57) 

 identifies Taxm baccata falcata of Nepal with Taxus nucifera of 

 Kaempfer from Japan, an oversight which has been set right by 

 Zuccarini, as well as by the fact that no one has hitherto de- 

 tected that plant or other Taxus in any part of the Himalaya. 

 Dr. Wallich has indeed, in " No. 6056, Taxus ? Lambertianay 

 Wall. Pini spec. Wall. Herb. 3 824. Himalaya, Webb, Govan, 

 Kamroop.'' No specimen exists in the collection here; but 

 from Lambert's genus Pinus iii. t. 67, we know it to be Pinus 

 [Picea) Pindrow. " Dr. Wallich, who had seen neither flowers 

 nor fruit, supposing it to be a Taxus, has doubtfully referred it 

 to that genus under the name of Taxus Lambertiana, in the 

 Catalogue of his Herbarium. It does not appear to have been 

 found in Nepal, but is frequent in the countries to the west- 

 ward, having been observed in Kumaon by Captain W. S. Webb, 

 and in Sirmore and Garhwal by Drs. Govan and Royle." Dr. 

 Thomson (Western Himalaya and Tibet, p. 86) considers it 

 one species with Picea Webbiana : " The long green-leaved state 

 i* that of the moist Himalaya; in the driest regions the very 

 short glaucous-leaved form occurs." The Himalayan chain 

 from Kumaon to Basehar on the Indian face is annually 

 drenched with rain ; and still more the various detached out- 

 liers, Dudutoli, Chur, &c., rising above 11,000 feet. Every- 

 where in this tract, so far as my observation extends, the Pin- 



* Morphology of the Coniferse, 52, 5,':5, in Reports and Papers on Botany, 

 printed for the Ray Society, London, 184 6. 



