THE FLORA OF WESTERN CHINA 9 



is often nothing but a carpet of Gentian flowers of the most 

 intense blue. The Fumeworts (Corydalis), with 70 species, 

 supplies both yellow and blue flowers and cannot be denied 

 a place. Then there are the wonderful alpine Primroses 

 {Primula). This family is represented in China by some 

 90 species, four-fifths of which occur in the west. These, 

 like Gentians, take unto themselves in season large tracts of 

 country and carpet them with flowers. Sometimes it is a 

 marsh, at other times bare rock or the sides of streams. One 

 of the most beautiful is Primula sikkimensis. Along the sides 

 of streamlets and ponds this species is as common as the 

 Cowslip in some English meadows. Associated with it is 

 its purple congener P. vittata. Other striking species are P. 

 Cockhurniana, with orange-scarlet flowers, a colour unique 

 in the genus ; P. pulverulenta, a glorified P. japonica, with 

 flower-scapes 3 to 4 feet tall, covered with a white meal and 

 flowers of a rich purple colour ; and P. Veitchii, which is best 

 described as a hardy P. obconica. Other striking herbs are 

 Incarvillea compacta and /. grandiflora, both with large scarlet 

 flowers, and Cypripedium tiheticum, a terrestrial orchid with 

 enormous pouches, dark red in colour. Also we have 

 Meconopsis in half a dozen species, including M. Henrici, with 

 violet-coloured flowers ; M. punicea, with dark scarlet flowers ; 

 and M. integri folia, with yellow flowers 8 inches or more across 

 — possibly the most gorgeous alpine plant extant. 



Division 6. — " High alpine belt." The limit of vegetation 

 is about 16,500 feet ; a few cushion-hke plants belonging to 

 Caryophyllacece, Rosacece, CrucifcrcB, and Compositce, with a 

 tiny species of Primula and Meconopsis racemosa being the last 

 to give out. Above this altitude are vast moraines and 

 glaciers, cuhninating in perpetual snow. The snow-line cannot 

 be less than 17,500 feet. Although at first sight remarkable, 

 the high altitude of the snow-line is easily accounted for by the 

 dryness of the Thibetan plateau and the highlands to the im- 

 mediate west. 



Having briefly outlined the different altitudinal zones 

 and instanced some of the more striking plants characteristic 

 of each, it may be of interest to point out the more important 

 absentees. In China there is no Gorse {Ulex), Broom (Cytisus), 



