INTRODUCTION. XXV 
too late in the season to exhaust the Flora of the valley and neighbourhood, so I made up my mind to winter 
here, and made a fresh start in spring, It would take pages to describe what I have observed about the Flora 
here, late as I came, but I have made many acquisitions. 
«The Flora of Cashmere has several anomalies : few, if any oaks descend on the northern side of the Peerpunjal 
into the valley ; I have not seen one yet. I have selected oaks as a very characteristic type. The same holds 
with respect to the plants that are associated with the oaks, &c. about Mussooree, as Andromeda, Rhododendron 
arboreum, Mahonia nepalensis, so common in the Hills elsewhere. The Conifere are, as to the eastward, 3 pines, 
2 or 3 firs and Deodar, but I have not seen theCupressus torulosa, the lofty cypress of the Mussooree hills. In 
the lake you see Nelumbium and Euryale ferox, growing along with Menyanthes trifoliata ; and cotton, a poor 
sort, growing on the banks, while the sides of the bounding hills are skirted with pines. I got Staphylea Emodi 
growing along with Rides Grossularia (your Himalense?) while it grows, as you know, at Mussooree, on low 
slopes near Budraj. 
« Among Ranunculaceae, I have got species of Hepatica, Ceratocephalus, and Callianthemum, all of which 1 
believe to be new, and making up the very blanks you notice in your ‘Illustrations.’ Of Callianthemum, I have 
no knowledge, besides your quotation, but my plant has leaves with umbelliferous habit, eight white strap- 
shaped clawed petals, with the nectariferous pore high up on the claw, and a pendulous ovulum. It cannot, 
therefore, be a Ranunculus, nor your R. pimpinelloides. Further, I have got a new Ranunculaceous genus, new 
unless Jacquemont has got it, having the habit of Trollius in its leaves and mode of inflorescence, eight herba- 
ceous sepals, twenty-four strap-shaped petals, plane, with no fovea at the claw, and solitary transversely attached 
ovula, being neither pendulous nor erect. It forms a transition from Adonis to the Ranunculee. This is 
another blank filled up in the desiderata so pointedly mentioned by you. I have called the genus Chrysocy- 
athus. It grows intermixed with Trollius, ‘inter nives deliquescentes,’ and till 1 examined it I took it for a 
Trollius. Ihave got a new species of Adoxa, forming, I believe, the second of the genus A. inodora (mihi), a 
larger plant than the A. Moschatellina, and with the lateral flower 12-androus, and six segments in the flowers. 
I have also a new Epimedium, a large handsome leaved herb, E. Hydaspidis (mihi), and two species of Alche- 
milla. Fritillaria imperialis, the Crown Imperial of English gardens, grows wild in the shady forests of Cash- 
mere. ‘The Cashmerees regard it to be unlucky, and grow it only near musjids and over graves. Ihave Dodonea 
brought to me from above Jummo, in the heart of the hills, growing along the banks of the Chenab. Fothergilla 
involucrata (mibi), belonging to the Hamamelidee, exists in vast abundance in Cashmere, forming whole tracts 
of low jungle ;—strange that it should not have been brought before, either to you or to me. It occupies the place 
that the hazel (Corylus Avellana) does in England, and at a little distance does not look unlike it. Thus, Hama- 
melidee are found at opposite ends of the Himalaya range, Bucklandia and Sedgwickia in Assam, and Fother- 
gilla in Cashmere, but none of the family have yet been met with in the intermediate tracts. Prangos pabularia 
I have found in vast abundance in several directions, most so on Ahatoong, a low trap hill, in the valley, but 
it is not here so vigorous a plant as in its Tibetan habitat. The Cashmerees do not know it for any useful pur- 
pose, except as a plant highly prized by Europeans. They sometimes use the roots to destroy worms, by steep- 
ing them in Dhan fields as Calamus aromaticus (dutch) is used in Hindoostan.” With respect to the Amomum 
and Koot, or Costus (v. p.360), which I had requested him to inquire about, he writes: «‘ Amomum, Humama, 
or Amamoon, is not known in Cashmere, nor to be had at the Punsarees. Koot is exported from Cashmere. It 
is a plant of the natural family of Composite, and grows on all the mountains surrounding Cashmere.” Dr. F. 
has formed it into a new genus,— Costia, and has introduced the plant into the Himalayas. He concludes: “I 
have already seen enough to convince me, from a trip to near Durass, on the Thibet frontier, that the Flora 
there will bear a close resemblance in many general relations to that of the Altai re gg shown ein Lede- 
bour and yourself.’”— Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Feb. 19, 1839. 
