84 JOURNAL OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM [vol. v 



THE RHODODENDRONS OF HUPEH 



Ernest IL Wilson 



The ascent of the Yangtsze River from its mouth to near the city 

 of Ichang, a distance of nearly one thousand miles, is from the view- 

 point of scenery an uninteresting journey. The mighty river flows through 

 a vast alluvial valley created by itself and its tributary streams. Here 

 and there as round Chinkiang and Kiukiang isolated hills and mountains 

 jut out like islands in the sea but on the whole the country is rich agri- 

 cultural land, flat, wearying and monotonous to the traveler, especially 

 if the journey be made in winter. About forty miles below Ichang the 

 scenery changes and the country becomes broken and picturesque. Around 

 the city the hills are strikingly pyramidal in outline with prominent cliffs 

 in the near distance. North, south and west of Ichang the country is 

 cut up into an archipelago of peaks from 2000 to 4000 ft. high which are 

 inextricably linked by spurs with mountain ranges that attain altitudes 

 of from 7000 to 10000 ft. Such is the configuration of the whole of western 

 Hupeh and the contiguous part of Szechuan to the eastern edge of the 

 famed Red Basin. There is no level land in the entire region which is 

 too wild and savage for extensive agricultural development, and with a 

 marked absence of useful mineral deposits it is one of the poorest, most 

 sparsely populated and least known parts of China. For these same reasons 

 it is of particular interest to the botanist since the vegetation has been less 

 molested there than in many other parts of that country. But even there 

 every reasonably accessible bit of land either is, or has been, under culti- 

 vation though much of the country is of such a nature as to preclude the 

 growing of crops even with Chinese patience and ingenuity. 



Geologically speaking the whole region is made up mainly of Falaeozoic 

 limestones capped with Mesozoic shales and sandstones, usually red 

 in color, which weather into sandy clays. From the edge of the Red 

 Basin of Szechuan to the city of Ichang, the Yangtsze River has forced 

 its way through mountain ranges and flows through a series of wonderful 

 gorges whose stupendous almost vertical cliffs are from 1000 to 2000 

 ft. high. At their lower levels all the small rivers and streams flow through 

 narrow gorges bound in by steep cliffs. Indeed, bold cliffs are the out- 

 standing feature of the topography of western Hupeh and the contiguous 

 part of Szechuan. From the level of the Yangtsze River up to 3000 ft. 

 altitude traveling is excessively arduous but above this it is not so tiring 

 though in truth it is difficult enough. Where not under cultivation the 

 hills and lower mountains are partly covered with woods of miscellaneous 

 broadleaf trees, both evergreen and deciduous, with a great variety of 

 shrubs and climbing plants on their margins and in the open country. 

 Below 4000 ft. such Conifers as Pinus Massoniana Lamb., Cupressus 

 funebris Endl., C wining hami a lanceolata Hook, and Keteleeria Davidiana 

 Beissn. are common. Above 6000 ft. Pinus sinensis Lamb, and P. Armandi 



