KASHMIR VALLEYS 211 



notes, and are vastly independent in their colouring 

 and habit ; even between the lower and upper parts of 

 the Gulmerg hills the colour and size of the same flower 

 varied greatly, the upper height giving a depth to the 

 tone while diminishing greatly the length of stalk 

 and richness of foliage. Cruciferae are much influenced 

 by their surroundings, and so are caryophyllaceoe, and 

 I gave up any attempts to do more than group them, 

 while the variety of iris and lilies of the valley will be 

 sufficient pabulum for the energies of many enthusiastic 

 botanists for some time to come. 



The iris, with their capacity for producing spots, 

 changing their colour, and developing most fragrant 

 odours, are very kittle cattle to deal with, and, till a 

 Michael Foster has time and energy to search through 

 Kashmir, their nomenclature will remain as uncertain 

 a quantity as it is now, and the amateur will be driven 

 to the verge of distraction by efforts to decide conscienti- 

 ously whether a plant that has varied his hue and lost 

 most of his markings can still be allowed to consider 

 himself of the same class as a gayer brother who has 

 elected to remain in closer proximity to water. 



In the course of my wood wanderings that afternoon 

 I collected much beautiful ornjthogalums,.two or three 

 daphnes, the tiny gage& lutea, giant crane's 'bill, a sheaf 

 of iris., great heads of the blue Jacob's ladder, anemones 

 of four different colours, ' and varieties of primula, 

 myosotis, mertensia, and -bugloss galore, small white 

 labiatae, always dull and forbidding in smell, pretty 

 yellow geums, Solomon's seal, eremurus, late violets, 

 and the brilliant viola biflora, and very handsome repre- 

 sentatives of pedicularis, pink, mauve, and yellow. But 

 the real difficulty of the work is not the collecting, it is 



