147 



^^oiriHEK.v Kashmir: Gurais Pass, 12,000 ft., Wmterhottom 

 498; Tra^bol, 10,500 ft., Clarke 29299; passes north of Kaslimir, 

 Falconer 3139, 3191/2; Appleton. 



The late Mi\ 0, Ji. Clarke, during a journey made hy lilm in 

 18TC tlirough Kaslimir as far as the Karakoram Eange,* met 

 with 31. actileata, Royle, at Palgam, 13,000 ft., on September 4 

 {Clarke n. 31057), and in the Marbul Pass, 10,500 ft., on Septem- 

 ber lb {Clarke n, 31291). The plant no^x described as M. latifoUa 

 he collected at Tragbol, 10,500 ft,, on July 20 {Clarke n. 29299). 

 To him beloQgs the credit of having- been the first to note in 

 the field that this plant differs from M, aculeata, lioyle, as that 

 species has been defined, though he never formally published this 

 view, and his specimens at Kew show that at a later date he 

 acquiesced in its vedvLciion to M. aculeata. Clarke, however, was 

 not the first collector of this plant. It had been obtained on two 

 separate occasions, as lon^ ago as 1838, to the north of Kashmir^ 

 by native collectors employed by Dr. H. }?alconer, then in 

 charge of the Botanic Garden at Saharanj^nr, and it was collected 

 again, on the Gurais Pass at 12,000 ft., by Mr, J. E. Winter- 

 bottom on June 20, 1847 {Winterhottom n. 498). Winterbottom's 

 plant was accepted by Hooker and Thomson in 1855 as a form of 

 M. aculeata^ Eoyle,t and, like Clarke, the writer was content in 

 1896 and again in 1906 to accept this identification as correct. 



The introduction of M. latlfolia to cultivation has, however, 



a" 

 1 



fforded an opportunity of comparing it with M, acnleata in the 

 iymg state, and has led to the conclusion that Clarke's 

 original view is probably correct. Thi^ introduction we owe to 

 Lieut. -Col. Appleton, B.E., who, w^ritingi from Lucknow on 

 7th January, 1906, advised the despatch " of a small bottle 

 (sealed) containing mature seeds of the blue Ka?^hmir poppy? 

 which I do not remember to have noticed in the Kew or Edin- 

 burgh Alpine gardens. It groM's generally at 10,000 to 13,000 ft. 

 elevation and has the habit of a Saxifrage, that is, it is always 

 found ^YO'^'mg in the crevices of rocks or among loose piles of 

 stone debris on stone slides and below cliffs. It likes the full 

 sun, and springs to full growth after the snow melts off, while 



the ground is still damp." 



Knowing how careful an observer Col. Appleton is, and 

 remembering that M. acnleata had been in contmuous cultiva- 

 tion both at Kew and at Edinburgh for at least half a century, 

 special attention was paid to this seed. The supply being 

 fortunately ample, in addition to sowing a quantity at Kew, 

 packets were distributed to the Botanical Gardens at Edinburgh, 

 Glasnevin, Oxford and Cambridge, and exchanged with Messrs. 

 J. Veitch and Sons and the Messrs. Bees. The seed was issued 

 from Kew as M. acnleata?, but when the plants raised from 

 the seeds sown in 1906 came into flower in 1908, it was pointed 

 out both by Mr. W. Irving at Kew and by the Messrs. Veitch 

 at Cooml)e Wood that they belonged to a species distinct from 

 3/. acideatn. The judgment of observers so experienced and 



* Ke^v Bulletin, 1906, p. 273 

 t Flora Indica, vol. i. p. 253. 



B 2 



