INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 159 



m 



has become common, accompanied by all the characteristic 

 forms, which will be enumerated in the next section, and the 

 dry country shrubs have quite disappeared. "With the annual 

 herbaceous vegetation the change is less marked, these dis- 

 tricts presenting a mixed flora, the cold and hot seasons pro- 

 ducing plants of a dry climate, while during the rains more 

 humid types are numerous. 



West of the Jclam, wherever the surface is hilly, as is 

 usually the case, it supports a very different vegetation. Aca- 

 cia modesta, and some other species, wdth a spinous Celastrus, 

 form the greater part of the jungle. Oka undulata, Rhazya 

 strict a, Dodonaa, Reptonia (Edgeivorthia of Falconer), and 

 other plants of the lower hills of Afghanistan, occur occasion- 

 ally, and many mountain plants of the Persian flora, which 

 descend from the hills, are here met with. Several species 

 of Delphinium, described in the present part of our work, and 

 numerous Caryophyttea, Geraniacea, Cichoracete, Cynaracece, 

 Labiatce, Boraginea, and other genera of the Oriental flora, 

 might be enumerated as instances ; but the flora of this dis- 

 trict is still very imperfectly known, no extensive collection 

 of its plants having reached this country. Those which we 

 have seen were collected by Jacqucmont, who explored the 

 Salt range ; by Dr. Fleming, who has more recently visited 

 the same district, and has communicated to us a complete 

 series of the plants which lie collected ; and by Major Vieary, 

 chiefly from the neighbourhood of Peshawer. 



Griffith's private journals, Jacqueniont's f Voyage aux Indes 

 Orientates/ and Royle's 'Illustrations/ contain many in- 

 teresting notes regarding the Panjab flora. Mr. Edgeworth 

 has fully investigated the neighbourhood of Midtan, and has 

 communicated many specimens to the Hookerian Herbarium. 

 These and our own materials give us a very complete know- 

 ledge of its vegetation. 



17. Upper Gangetic Plain. 

 Between the Himalaya on the north and the spurs of the 



