EHODODENDEON NIVALE 325 



There were also 



whole specimens of Rhododendron nivale from 18,000 feet, 

 the loftiest of all shrubs, and hitherto of any known plant,^ 

 but I have several species of plants from above that, curious 

 half spherical balls of an Alsinea ^ growing in Thibet at 18,000 

 feet, like our old friend Bolax.^ 



Indeed the Himalayan heights were full of new marvels. 



Donkiah is a wonderful place ; 19,200 feet is the altitude 

 of the Pass, and plants to 200 feet of top. Lichens to all 

 but 20,000 feet. Wait till you see my colored sketch of 

 Thibet. Jorgensen's works are moonshine to mine. 



* This plant is described as follows in Hooker's Rhododendron Book : 



Rhododendron nivalb. Hook. fil. 



Snow Rhododendron. 



The hard woody branches of this curious little species, as thick as a goose- 

 quill, straggle along the ground for a foot or two, presenting brown tufts of 

 vegetation where not half a dozen other plants can exist. The branches are 

 densely interwoven, very harsh and woody, wholly depressed ; whence the 

 shrub, spreading horizontally, and barely raised cwo inches above the soil, 

 becomes eminently typical of the arid stern climate it inhabits. The latest to 

 bloom and earliest to mature its seeds, by far the smallest in foliage, and pro- 

 portionately largest in flower, most lepidote in vesture, humble in stature, rigid 

 in texture, deformed in habit, yet the most odoriferous, it may be recognised, 

 even in the herbarium, as the production of the loftiest elevation of the surface 

 of the globe, — of the most excessive climate, — of the joint influences of a scorch 

 ing sun by day, and the keenest frost at night, — of the greatest drought followed 

 in a few hours by a saturated atmosphere, — of the balmiest calm alternating 

 with the whirlwind of the Alps. During genial weather, when the sun heats 

 the soil to 150°, its perfumed foliage scents the air ; whilst to snow-storm and 

 frost it is insensible, blooming through all, expanding its little purple flowers to 

 the day, and only closing them to wither after fertilization has taken place. 

 As the life of a moth may be indefinitely prolonged wMlst its duties are unful- 

 filled, so the flower of this little mountaineer will remain open through days of 

 fog and sleet, till a mild day facilitates the detachment of the poUen and fecun- 

 dation of the ovarium. This process is almost wholly the effect of the winds ; 

 for though humble-bees and the ' Blues ' and ' Fritillaries ' (Polyommatus and 

 Argynnis) amongst butterflies do exist at the same prodigious elevation, they 

 are too few in number to influence the operations of vegetable life. 



The odour of the plant much resembles that of ' Eau de Cologne.' Lepidote 

 scales generally rather a bright ferruginous-brown, wholly concealing the 

 ramuli, foliage, &c. Leaves one-eighth to one-sixth of an inch long, pale green. 

 Corolla one-third of an inch across the lobes. The nearest allies of this species 

 are R. setosum and R. Lapponicum, from which latter it differs in its smaller 

 stature and solitary sessile flowers. 



This singular little plant attains a4oftier elevation, I believe; than any other 

 shrub in the world. 



* Arenaria rupifraga, Fenzl. 



' Bolax gleharia, the Tussock grass of the Falklands. 

 VOL. I Y 



