124 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



bottom-lands and abandoned cultivated areas " Summer 

 Lilac " {Buddleia Davidii) was a wonderful sight— thousands of 

 bushes, each one with masses of violet-purple flowers, delighting 

 the eye on all sides, the variety magnifica, with its reflexed 

 petals and intense coloured flowers, being most in evidence. 

 I gathered also an albino form, one small solitary bush, the 

 only one I have ever met with. Forming a much-branched 

 bush 4 to 8 feet tall, with rose-purple flowers. Hydrangea 

 villosa was, next to the Buddleia, the most strikingly orna- 

 mental shrub. On moist rocky slopes plants of Rodgersia 

 cesculifolia occur in millions. It was in the fruiting stage, 

 but when in flower the acres of snow-white panicles must have 

 presented a bewitching sight. Nowhere else have I seen this 

 plant so abundant or luxuriant. The slender arching plumes 

 of white flowers, produced by Spircea Aruncus, covered acres of 

 ground ; an apetalous Astilbe [A . rivularis) was also abundant, 

 and worthy of note. 



The hamlet of Hsao-kou, alt. 5900 feet, consists of three 

 scattered houses, surrounded by maize plats, with remains 

 of other ruined houses near by. It is encompassed on all 

 sides by steep mountains, some of them culminating in lofty 

 limestone crags and rugged razor-like ridges with pinnacled 

 peaks — all of them inaccessible. At the back of the inn are a 

 few Larch trees, and near by several large trees of a flat-leaved 

 Spruce. The Hou-p'o {Magnolia officinalis) is cultivated 

 hereabouts, and also around all of the houses we passed dur- 

 ing the day. The innkeeper likewise cultivates a medicinal 

 Aconite {Aconitum Wilsonii), which is valued as a drug in 

 Chinese pharmacy. 



We encountered only three men carrying goods during the 

 whole day ; two were laden with potash salts, the third with 

 the bark of a Linden (Tilia), used locally for making sandles. 

 Evidences of forest fires were all too frequent during the 

 day's march. 



The next day rain ruined what otherwise would have been 

 a more than ordinarily interesting march. From 7 a.m. 

 until 2 p.m. we struggled up some 4000 odd feet to the summit 

 of the pass leading across the Tu-ti-liang shan ; then descended 

 another 4000 feet to the hamlet of Hsueh-po, where we secured 



