1889-90.] a District in the Himalayas. 299 



formosa, and the yellow Linum trigynum, both highly ornamen- 

 tal shrubs. Chiretta is not mentioned by the General, as it 

 is an autumn plant. Chiretta, or " the bitter plant," is a 

 name given to various species of the two genera, Ophelia and 

 Agathodes, which agree in yielding a tonic infusion, much used 

 in Indian medicine. They are allied to the gentians of the 

 Alps, but differ in having glandular pores at the base of the 

 petals. These pores are naked in Ophelia, but covered with 

 a fimbriate scale in Agathodes. As a tonic, few plants surpass 

 them. When required as a medicine, they are simply pulled 

 up by the root and dried in the sun. The infusion is prepared 

 in an equally simple manner. Fragments of the stem, with 

 the dried leaves and flowers on it, are put into a vessel, and 

 hot water is pou^red over them. The infusion is then allowed 

 to cool, and is drunk exactly like tea. Mothers in India 

 sometimes give delicate children a morning cup of chiretta to 

 breakfast, instead of a cup of tea. Of the berberries, the 

 General only mentions one species, but in reality two species 

 are common — Berberis asiatica, with short racemes, and 

 Berberis aristata, with long compound racemes. They have 

 different Hindustani names, so it is strange that the General 

 confounded them. Their properties are, however, similar. 

 Their berries are eaten, and the dried extract of their roots 

 is perhaps the best, and certainly the oldest, of all known 

 remedies for ophthalmia. Buried under the lava of 

 Herculaneum, jars have been found containing Berberry 

 extract, and labelled by some old Greek or Campanian 

 druggist, " Best Himalayan light-giver," or Lycium. The 

 species of Berberis found in the western Himalayas has been 

 properly named Berberis Lycium. It very much resembles 

 the Gurhwal Berberis asiatica. 



In the class Decandria, two Bauhinias are mentioned. 

 One of these, Bauhinia Vahlii, is a very common and very 

 interesting plant. It is a gigantic climber, growing in the 

 valleys chiefly, covering large trees, and often smothering 

 them. It is particularly injurious to Shorea robusta, the 

 most valuable of Indian timber - trees, and it is therefore 

 mercilessly destroyed by the officers of the Forest Department, 

 in the forests, at the foot of the hills, where Shorea robusta 

 grows. In the lower hills it still holds its own. The natives 



