The flora of Ladak, Western Tibet. |. Discussion of the flora 
RALPH RANDLES STEWART 
(WITH TWO TEXT FIGURES) 
INTRODUCTION 
In the books that deal with the ‘“Trans-Himalaya”’ region 
there is the greatest confusion in the way the term ‘‘ Western 
Tibet” is applied. The term may mean any place from the arid 
region, north of Sikkim, to the Karakoram Mountains, on the road 
to Turkestan. The result is that when the record ‘‘ Western Tibet” 
appears in Hooker's Flora of British India (22)* one knows very 
little about where the specimen really came from. Even when the 
name of the collector is given, the source of the specimen cannot 
always be determined, as several explorers travelled extensively. 
As a result, a number of the species mentioned in the check list 
in the second part of the present paper may not grow in Ladak, 
but they are listed for the sake of completeness. 
The region with which this paper deals is properly called Ladak 
to distinguish it from the other parts of Little or Western Tibet. 
Its inhabitants are largely Tibetan Buddhists and its flora is 
closely related to that of Tibet proper, but it is under the political 
control of Great Britain, being a part of the dominions of the 
Maharajah of Kashmir. Hemsley and Pearson’s list of the plants 
of Tibet (20) does not include those from this region. 
In their Flora Indica (23) Hooker and Thomson limit Ladak to 
a narrow strip on each side of the Indus, but I shall follow Neve’s 
Tourist Guide (1913 edition).t According to Neve:—‘‘Ladak is a 
large tract of country including Rupshu, Zanskar, Nubra, as well 
as Middle Ladak, and the lofty plateaux south of the Karakoram. 
It contains the loftiest inhabited districts in the world. No part 
is below 9,000 ft. and a large portion of the population live at 
* The numbers refer to the Bibliography at the close of the 
Paper. 
+ Neve, A. Tourist’s guide to Kashmir, Ladakh and Skardo. 1913. 
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second part of this 
