1920] WILSON, PIIYTOGEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF FORMOSA 39 



flowers and bright scarlet fruits, and is very closely related to C. Dammcri 

 Schneid. of central and western China. On the divide beyond Noko I 

 gathered a species with deciduous leaves and red fruits very similar to 

 C. horizontalis Decne. abundant in the above mentioned regions in China. 

 The tops of all the higher peaks of the central range are bare of trees 

 and clothed with grass, various herbs and low shrubs. On Mt. Morrison 

 the tree limit is at about 3800 m. Above this for some 150 m. Junijperus 

 squamata Lamb, forms a low impenetrable jungle. In the Abies-forests 

 this Junij^cr is often a handsome tree, sometimes as much as 50 ft. tall and 

 8 ft. in girth of trunk, with a shapely, nearly oval crown and between this 

 and a low mat closely hugging the ground there is every intermediate con- 

 dition. On exposed rocks low trees or large bushes of this Juniper with 

 broad irregular crowns and gnarled branches clothed with pendent masses 

 of a silvery gray Lichen ( Usnea longissima Ach.) are exceedingly pic- 

 turesque. On Kiraishiu this Juniper covers extensive areas with a dense, 



low growth. 



The crumbling summit of Mt. Morrison, 3985 m. above the sea, is 



reached by a dangerous path, but the climb is not difficult above the trees. 

 It is bare save for a few herbs, among which an Edelweiss is prominent, 

 occasional low bushes of Rhododendron pseuduchnjsanthum Hay., the tiny 

 Gaultheria borncensis Stapf with snow-white bells, prostrate mats of the 

 Juniper and a Salix. I reached the summit when a slight but bitterly cold 

 sleet storm was in progress and after sojourning beneath the over-hanging 

 lea of some cliffs two thousand feet below for three days. From the summit 

 a wonderful view embracing the Pacific Ocean on the east, the Formosan 

 Channel on the west and much of the island to the north and south is to be 

 had in clear weather. Wlien on the summit I could not see more than 

 fifty feet in any direction and the strong gale and sleet storm made almost 

 inaudible the banzai cheers with which my Japanese companions and police 

 announced our conquest of the highest mountain in the Japanese Empire 

 and the loftiest peak between the Californian Sierra Nevada and the snow- 

 clad peaks of the Chino-Thibetan borderland. 



Hayata in his paper already referred to gives percentage tables which 

 show that the flora of Formosa is specifically as closely related to that of 

 Japan as to that of China. To this I cannot agree. His premises, owing to 

 inadequate comparative knowledge of the Chinese flora due to lack of 

 material and opportunity, are at fault. That Formosa is a continental 

 island is generally accepted. It was probably separated from the mainland 

 of China in Tertiary times, and the dividing channel to-day is nowhere 

 more than 100 fathoms deep. A very natural conclusion would be that 

 the flora is most closely related to that of the east coast provinces of China 

 from the mouth of the Yangtsze River southward. And it is really sur- 

 prising that this is not so. The real affinity, however, is with that of 

 central and southwestern China — that is with that of the provinces of 



J 



Hupeh, Kwcichou, Szecli'uan and Yunnan. 



I have not had the time necessary to compare material in general gath- 



