130 ON S0:ME MOrNTAIN PLANTS FROM NORTHERN CHINA. 



above the sea level. The mountain appears fully to deserve the 

 poetical name it has received : — 



*' Namque hie per frondes redolentia lilia pendent, 

 Hie rosa cum violis, hie omnis gratia florum." 



— Reposianif Coneub. Mart, et Van., 41. 



The Chinese report that in July and August it is in its full glory, 

 teeming with blossom ; and it is then visited by the Peking herbalists, 

 for the purpose of gathering the medicinal plants for which it is 

 famous. It is wooded throughout to the very summit, the forest con- 

 sisting of £etula (sp. 3), Populus (sp. pi.), Castanea, Juglandacece, 

 ' Quercus, Acer, and many other trees, mingled with a thick under- 

 wood, and, towards the foot — that is still at an elevation of between 

 3000 and 4000 feet above the sea— masses of Syringa^ exhaling a 

 most delicious fragrance, are met with, whilst all the rocks are resplen- 

 dent with the brilliant rosy blooms of Rhododendron. 



It is to be hoped that Dr. Bretschneider may be able to visit this 

 rich and very imperfectly examined locality at a later season of the 

 year. Owing to the immature and imperfect state of many of the 

 specimens, their exact determination has either been impossible or 

 unusually troublesome. There seems every reason to anticipate that 

 an abundant harvest of interesting species would reward a persevering 

 and systematic exploration, and it appears certain that the mountain 

 has several hitherto undescribed timber-trees. 



In the following list I have left Dr. Bretschneider' s brief notes 

 on the colour of flowers, the height of plants, their habits, &c., which 

 accompanied the specimens, in the original French, to distinguish 

 them from my own remarks. "With the exception of references to a 

 few plates commendable for accuracy, chiefly contained in quite 

 modern works, I have almost entirely abstained from bibliographical 

 citations. But I may say that I have consulted all recent botanical 

 literature bearing on the species enumerated, so far as this is known to 

 me and has been available for reference. 



Clematis {Cheiropsis) macropetala, Led. (Rgl. FL Sibir. or., t. i , 

 fig. 1.) 



Anemone {Pulsatilla) chinensis, Bge. (Rgl. Tent. fl. Ussur., t. ii., 



fig- 3-) . . 



Aquilegia vulgaris, Linn. 



Aquilegia atropurpurea, Willd. '* Fleurs brunatres." 



Menispermum dauricum, DC. '' Fleurs de couleur jaune rouge- 

 itre." 



Berheris sinensis, Desf., /3 angustifolia, Rgl. (Act. hort. Petrop. 

 ii., 416). Kegel relies on the colour of the flowering branches or 

 branchlets as a character for distinguishing species. But it is certainly 

 of no value, for in the present plant and in a specimen of the variety 

 typica received some years since from Mr. Benthara, and probably 

 derived from one of the French gardens, the branchlets are reddish 

 brown ; whilst in another specimen of typica they are cinereous ; and, 

 in a plant gathered at Jehol by P^re David, precisely like Dr. Bret- 

 Bchneider's, the lower half of the branchlet is reddish brown, the 

 upper pale cinereous, with copious black dots. 



Corydalis Bimgea?ia, Turcz. In the Nan-kau Pass. 



