INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 187 



sim 



degr 



Nipal 



type than those of Sikkim, and are abundant 



mountains 



season alternate. 



Mo? 



jiva> Bombax, Vatica robusta, Buchanania , Spondias, Butea 

 frondosa and parviflora, Erythrina, Acacia Lebbek and stipu- 

 laris y Bankinia purpurea and Vahlii, Ventilago, Conocarpus, 

 Terminalia, Nauclea cordifolia, and Ulmus integrifolia. 



In the plain of Kathmandu, which is elevated 4000 feet, 

 the ground is in a great measure under cultivation, and the 

 hills are bare of trees. The vegetation and climate are there- 

 fore subtropical, and from the position of the Kathmandu 

 plain, close to the ridge of the spur which separates the ba- 

 sins of the Gandak and Kosi, its mean level is probably 

 greater than that of many of the valleys of both rivers, and 

 of the ridges which separate their tributaries. 



In the temperate flora of central Nipal, for the same rea- 

 son, the Japanese and Malayan types are much fewer ; En- 

 kianthus, Stachyurus, Vaccinia, Aucuba, Helwingia, several 

 Rubi, and Rhododendron Balhousue and Edgeworthii being all 

 absent, while European and west Himalayan forms which are 

 wanting in Sikkim make their appearance. In the extreme 

 east of Nipal, in the valley of the Tambar river, Rhododen- 

 drons are scarcely less abundant than in Sikkim; but those 

 of the temperate zone are certainly entirely wanting in that 

 part of central Nipal from which Dr. Wallich obtained his 

 collections, with the exception of R. arboreum, which is found 

 throughout the whole Himalava. R. barbatum, which extends 



Kumaon 



cannot 



to be absent, but it is highly probable that the number of 

 species is not great, none having been obtained by Dr. Wal- 

 lich's collectors, but such as are universally distributed 

 throughout the Himalaya, The pines are the same as those 



