216 JOURNAL OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM [vol. vi 



arrange with a man, a young Tibetan, quite intelligent, and who has been in the 



Tebbu country with me, to collect the seeds of these various conifers. I shall 



leave one of my Nashi collectors behind also and then we will be able to get a good 

 series/ ' 



On August 9th he wrote (his last letter), 



''Yesterday we returned from the trip (second) into the Tebbu land. I was 

 greatly interested in the conifers there, and I am sure you will be surprised 

 to learn of the great number of Abies and Picea found there. To be sure 

 one of the most common Piceas is P. Meyeri. It forms forests but is found 

 only on the outer margins of the Minshan. It rarely occurs with Abies and 

 other Piceas but usually forms pure stands. The trees are easily recognized from a 

 distance by their glaucous color and gray flaky bark. There are Abies 180-200 

 feet in height in Tebbu land and we felled a few trees in order to secure specimens. 

 There are some with smooth whitish bark recognizable at a long distance. I took 

 many photos of the trunks, branches, etc., but it is very difficult to photograph the 

 trees owing to their height and their not growing in open country singly but in 

 stands, also the terrain is so steep that it is difficult to do much photography of tall 

 conifers. I spent several days in these forests and had many trees climbed, such as 

 we could not climb we shot down specimens. We obtained a fine series of these 

 various Abies and Picea. Mr. Rehder in his enumeration of the woody plants of 

 North China says P. Meyeri is a very variable species. Here in this part of China 

 there can be no mistake made as to the identity of P. Meyeri. The only variation 

 that does exist here is in the color of the leaves which are glaucous in younger trees 

 and green in old. The cones are at first (just before maturing) green and glossy, 

 and the margins of the scales are reddish to purplish. The cones are often very 

 long and slender but usually somewhat curved. There are a number of small fruited 

 Piceas, some with red cones, some with deep blackish purple, some with small 

 leaves glaucous or white streaked beneath, others uniformly green. The scales of 

 the Abies cones are very different in the various species. ... On the 13th I leave 

 for the Kokonor. I am leaving three men behind to go to the Tebbu country to 

 collect the seeds of all the various conifers and woody plants. There are many 

 Primulas that are pretty and also quite a number of Meconopsis. The Meconopsis 

 integrifolia is different here from the Yunnan species. I think we have a few new 

 ones from Tebbu land. I am certain that these conifers and other trees will grow 

 in Massachusetts. During the day we have a temperature of 84 Fahr. but a morn- 

 ing temperature of 30 Fahr. at 6 A. M. There was always ice on our tents every 

 morning— this is August. In the winter the passes into Tebbu land are not ne- 

 gotiable. It is a most wonderful country, and no collecting has been done on the 

 other side. Purdom worked in the Tao Uiver basin and in Lotani which is on the 

 Szechuan border south of Minchow." 



Just a year from the time Rock sailed from San Francisco the first fruits 

 of his journey were received at the Arboretum and consisted of five packets 

 of seeds, one of Leptodermis, two of Lonicera, one of Prunus and one of 

 Viburnum fragrans. 



C. S. Sargent. 



