THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS. 93 
covered with strawberry plants, buttercups, dandelions, and a profusion of other 
flowers.—(Quarterly Review, No. 44.) 3 
These brief notices will give some idea of the vegetation at ten and twelve thousand 
feet of elevation on the southern face of the Himalaya, as Choor, Kedarkanta, and 
Changshel are some of the loftiest mountains not included in the snowy range itself, 
from which the snow annually melts in June, July, and August. 
Though but small shrubs are found in the vicinity of the highest peaks, no where are 
more splendid pines to be seen than at eleven and eleven thousand five hundred feet of 
elevation. The species most common are, Pinus Webbiana, Deodara, excelsa, and 
Morinda. Quercus Semecarpifolia generally forms the forests, at their highest limits. 
Below, other species of Quercus are found, with Taxus, Betula, Acer, Cerasus, and 
Populus. The smaller trees and shrubs which are found as high as at twelve thousand 
feet of elevation, are species of Juniperus, Salixv and Ribes. Viburnum, Euonymus, 
Xylosteum, Pyrus lanata, and P. crenata do not reach so great a height; but the most 
ornamental certainly are Rhododendron campanulatum, Anagyris nepalensis, Rosa 
tetrapetala, and Clematis nepalensis, all found at considerable heights, with species of 
Gualtheria, Sibbaldia, Staphylea, Sambucus, and Syringa. The more diminutive shrubs, 
found at still greater elevations, are the smaller species of Rhododendron (R. lepidotum and 
anthopogon), with Andromeda fastigiata (the heather of Mr. Fraser), and Salix Lindleyana. 
In addition to the small herbaceous and showy flowering plants enumerated in the 
Journal, and also to other more Alpine species of Eurepean genera, of which species 
are also found at lower elevations, the following may be enumerated as being chiefly 
found at higher elevations :—Peonia, Actea, Podophyllum, Monotropa, Circea, Fragaria, 
Chrysosplenium, Onosma,Euphrasia, Caragana, Conopodium, Nasturtium, Turritis, Arabis, 
and Erysimum; with species of Lappa, Saussurea, Diplurandra, Hieracium, and Mul- 
gedium. The genera of monocotyledons, which furnish species growing at the highest 
elevations, are Phalangium, Fritillaria, Gagea, Trillium, Iris, Allium, Tulipa, and 
Cypripedium. The grasses belong chiefly to Agrostis, Poa, Festuca, Bromus, and 
Phleum; while ef Cyperacee many Carices are found. Ferns are less common, 
but mosses and lichens abound, both on rocks and the trunks of trees. 
As the long-continued covering of snow, and its remoyal in the hottest months 
of the year during the partial prevalence of the rains, presents some of the same 
meteorological phenomena as observed at lower elevations, so we may meet with 
some plants which we would not otherwise expect, or be able to account for. The 
Roscoea has been already mentioned as being common at nine thousand feet of elevation. 
What is more remarkable, one of the Bamboo tribe, and which in the hills is used 
for the same purposes as the bamboo in the plains, is found commonly at elevations 
of from seven thousand five hundred to ten thousand feet, but its annual stems are 
yearly beaten down by the falls of snow, which protect its perennial roots from 
excessive frost. This does not, however, belong to the genus Bambusa, but is nearly allied 
to the Chusquea of Humboldt and Kunth, found by the former, the most accomplished 
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