APPENDIX. 



Aquilegia Bp. (F 2S0). — Quite diiTerent from A. ecalcarata, as we grow it 

 from Japanese seed ; this should be no other species. It abounds in the sub- 

 alpine river-shingles and coppice of the Kansu-Tibet mountain regions — a dim 

 little quaint dinge, with show H chocolate Columbines in June. 



Arisaema. — Of these great Aroids, two abound in the rich or stony wood- 

 land places of the Siku-Satanee Alps. Of these I believe F 283 to be A. tri- 

 pliyUum, and F 420 to be A. ringens. The former has 3 big folioles, and 

 makes an impressive sight in deep and sheltered woodland places ; while F 420 

 has a more elaborate leaf-frill, and the spathe of scarlet fruit is dazzling in the 

 October woodland. Neither, of course, is really choice or specially attractive, 

 but impressive in the right place. 



Aruncus Sp. (F 386). — This is a superb thing, precisely replacing Spiraea 

 Aruncus in the Alpine copse-fringes, dingles, and hedgerows in the Satanee 

 Alps. It is, however, of much slenderer growth, developing only 2 or 3 

 stems from the crown, and the blossom panicles, opulent and arching, leave 

 all efforts of S. Aruncus far behind, attaining often to a generous yard in length, 

 and even more. 



Aster (F 131). — A small, single-flowered high-alpine Aster, which runs 

 happily about in the topmost screes of Thundercrown, with stems of 2 or 3 

 inches, and gold-eyed purple daisies. The first lot sent under this number 

 covers the far more beautiful and important F 226 — a treasure of the same 

 habits and tastes, but with much larger blossoms, occurring on the highest 

 shingle-crests of the main Min S'an. (Painting.) 



Aster Sp. (F 156). — This Aster occurs on level and very stony lawns of 

 scant turf just above Siku, in the debouchure of the gorges (and ascending 

 to about 8000 feet in crevices of hot rock-slopes). It forms carpets of smooth- 

 looking, almost glaucous foliage in rosettes, from which spring 6-inch stems 

 in June, carrying a scattered flight of some 4 or 5 large flowers of a very 

 tender pale lavender, so faint as to be almost of a soft grey in effect, as the 

 flowers sheet the distance. But A. oreophilus is not winter-hardy in damp 

 English soil. 



Aster Sp. (F 173). — This exactly copies A. diphstephioeides, but differs in 

 having its 7 or 8-inch stems beset more liberally with quite narrow-pointed 

 leaflets inclining to expand at the base. The large marguerites of rich lavender 

 unfold in July-August, and the upper grass-ridges of Tibet, imperialised in a 

 rippling ocean of these glorious, golden-twinkling Asters, while among them 

 flare the furious flapping scarlet flags of Meconopsis punicea, offer a sight that 

 not even the Col de Lautaret can easily efface. F 173 is general on the high 

 grassy lands of the Tibetan border, between 8500 and 11,000 feet, stuntifying into 

 a very concise, neat, large-Astered form on the uppermost turfy summits. 

 where it has a far-off look of A. alpinus on far-off hills. (.1 . Urn tianeus, Sp. nova.) 



Aster Sp. (F 174) is more local than the last. I have seen it rare in the 

 Tibetan valley of Mirgo, here and there among the grass, and very abundant 

 in the alpine hay of the Bao-u-go Valley, at some 10,500 feet, never seeming to 

 ascend to the wind-ruffled heights of the great ridges above, where F 173 is 



494 



