246 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOTANY OF [ Synantherec. 
true structure, greater precision has now been introduced into generic characters, and 
these, the valuable work of Lessing—‘‘ Synopsis Generum Compositarum,” has presented 
in a convenient form. Yet the difficulty is so great, of referring the plants of so large 
a family to their true genera, that I should have despaired of being able in a short time 
to give a satisfactory account of the Himalayan and Indian Composite, especially with 
respect to their geographical distribution, had it net been for the kind assistance of 
Mr. Don, Dr. Lindley, and especially of Professor De Candolle, who has named the 
greater portion, and will describe the new species in the forthcoming volume of his 
Prodromus, 
The Synantheree, though very generally diffused throughout the world, are not very 
numerous in the plains of India, Dr. Roxburgh having only described sixty-one species, 
some of them from the Peninsula, where Dr. Wight collected 111 species; in this 
number are included the majority of Dr. Roxburgh’s species, and several from the 
Neelgherries and other Peninsular mountains. Dr.Wallich has enumerated in his Cata- 
logue, 426 species collected over a wide extent, both of plain and mountain surface. 
The author's collection within more confined limits, but with equal diversity of surface, 
contains 238 species. These, in their distribution, confirm all the results which have 
been obtained in other families, with respect to the great correspondence between 
climate and the vegetation it supports. 
Thus the Cynaree (Cynarocephale, Auct.), which, with the exception of the subtribe 
of Cape Arctodiee, occur chiefly in Europe and the northern half of the temperate zone 
and the Mediterranean and Oriental regions, are found in the Himalayas, and in the 
plains of the north-western provinces of India, which have been elsewhere shown to 
correspond in other respects with the vegetation of these regions. Thus, in the Hima- 
layas, we have species of the genera Serratula, Cnicus, Centaurea, Lappa, Carduus, 
and Saussurea, with the new genera Dolomiea, DC. allied to the last, as well as 
Aplotaxis, DC., of which numerous species are found in these mountains, and one in 
Siberia. Of species, Carduus nutans, from Muttiana, Choor, and Kedarkanta, as well as 
from Boodurwar, appears to be identical with the European plant. Lappa Himalayana 
closely resembles L. major. Centaurea pulchra, DC., I have only obtained from Cash- 
mere : it is cultivated in the Peninsula, probably from the same source. An approxi- 
mation to the Oriental flower is seen in the existence of species of Echinops, as E. nivea 
and cornigera, of Jurinea, J? Tricholepis, DC., on the Suen Range ; of a Cirsium, 
C. verutum, Don, on Thanna Toongra; and of Echanais cirsioides, DC. in the Deyra 
Doon. From Dokree, in Kunawur, another species of Cirsium, or 6f Cousinia, was 
obtained, which also shows the alliance of this region with the Oriental. 
This is still more decidedly the case in the plains of Northern India, for the only 
plants of this tribe found there belong to genera, of which species are also found in the 
Mediterranean and Oriental regions, as Microlonchus divaricatus, common about Saha- 
runpore and the Doab, and the banks of the Jumna. Cirsium Wallichii, found in 
similar situations, as well as Echinops echinatus, only in the latter. Tricholepis is an 
Indian 
