4 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Sess. lxxx 



stunted willows. Similar meadows occur in the Tyrol. 

 This meadow occupies all the more level ground, bamboo 

 brake and Abies only coming in where the valley narrows 

 and steepens. The gullies, liowever, which have shot out 

 steep isosceles-triangle-shaped cones of detritus, the broad 

 fan-like base of big boulders tapering more and more 

 steeply up to an apex of sand and pebbles, are occupied, 

 not by Abies (except at the very bottom) nor by bamboo, 

 but by {d) a peculiar shrub and small tree association of 

 their own ; in some places the boulder-screes are overgrown 

 with a dense tangle of rhododendron scrub, 6 or 8 feet high, 

 to the exclusion of everything else. 



The absence of trees save from the very foot of the 

 boulder screes is probably due to mechanical causes, trees 

 being unable to maintain their existence in face of the 

 avalanches, whether of rock or snow, which descend these 

 gullies. The alpine meadow seeks light and air, growing 

 in pure sand spread out by the torrent over broad flats, 

 probably silted-up rock basins carved out by former 

 glaciers, for the previous extension of which, in the valleys 

 alluded to, there is ample evidence ; while bamboo brake 

 thrives only in the damper, darker parts of the valley, 

 where little sunlight penetrates, though it is hard put to it 

 by Abies, whose fastness is the cliffs and mountain sides, 

 encroaching into the valley, especially where the boulder- 

 screes debouch broadly. 



The following plants ma}^ be taken as representative of 

 the alpine meadow : — 



Meconopsis pseudo - integrifolia, Prain ; Fritillaria 

 Souliei, Franch. ; F. Delavayi, Franch. ; Primula pseudo- 

 sikkiiyiensis, G. Forrest ; P. Franchetii, Pax (rare) ; Trollius 

 pumilus, Don, var. yunnanensis, Franch. ; Adenophora 

 spp. ; Aconitum spp. (both yellow and blue); Codonopsis 

 spp. (twining and erect); Salvia spp. (yellow and blue); 

 Geraniv/ni spp. ; Pedicularis spp. ; Senecio spp. ; Lfinbelli- 

 ferae. 



The alpine meadow extends into the Burmese hinterland, 

 where I found a luxurious growth above the 'Nmai valley 

 in latitude 26"^ 45' X., and again at a lower altitude in the 

 neighbourhood of Hpimaw, latitude 26^ N. : — 



Meconopjsis sp. ; Primula sp, ; Primtda Beesiana, 



