192 Dr. Griffith on the Vegetation of Afghanistan, 



exist, while there is little or none in those cultivated. Thus 

 at Cabul, where the winter is so severe, and where heavy snow 

 lies for two or three months, and about which not an indige- 

 nous plant common to India perhaps is to be found, he will 

 see Indian corn and rice cultivated with wheat and barley, rice 

 perhaps forming the prevailing crop. We may see at Cabul 

 the rice-fields bordered by poplars and willows, the aspen 

 quivering over the nodding rice. This is eaily accounted for : 

 an approach to community of temperature may perhaps be 

 found between the summer heat of Cabul and the winter and 

 spring heats of the plains of India, which may explain the cul- 

 tivation of wheat and barley. Between the summer heats of 

 the two countries, there is likewise sufficient community to 

 account for the cultivation of rice occurring in both in the 

 summer. 



Brief notices on useful Plants occurring wild. 



The accompanying list will be found extremely meagre ; but 

 in the first place, the great bulk of the vegetation consists of 

 the large European families, among which valuable products 

 in the wild state are not extensively presented ; and in the se- 

 cond, it is drawn up from memory chiefly, for even the casual 

 overlooking of the herbarium, which is requisite to make it 

 more complete, would delay one considerably in the forward- 

 ing of the report, and I may add, there is no probability of 

 valuable information turning up to compensate lor this. 



Among monocotyledonous plants, that of the most use is, 

 I think, the maizurrye of the Khyburs and Momunds. It is 

 a small palm, and appears to be a Chamcerops ; perhaps the 

 same as C. humilis of Southern Europe. Should it be distinct, 

 I hope it may be allowed to bear the name of C. Ritchiana, 

 after Dr. Ritchie, the only person who has explored the bo- 

 tanical productions of the Khybur Pass. This plant is exten- 

 sively used in the manufacture of ropes or strings for the bot- 

 toms of charpaiees and of the sandals, so universally worn in 

 the Momund and Khybur districts, and perhaps generally 

 throughout lower Eastern Afghanistan. 



Salep is to be found in the markets of Cabul, at a much 

 lower price than in those of the N.W. of India. A species of 

 Orchis is common in marshy places, high up among the Hu- 

 zarah mountains, but I could not ascertain whether it was 

 from this that Cabul was supplied. There is also an Eulophia 

 in sand-islands of the Koonur river, from which salep may be 

 derived. 



Among the dicotyledonous plants, the umbelliferous family 

 holds perhaps the highest rank, as affording valuable wild pro- 



