30 ASIA 



of a sub-tropical, mostly evergreen character, abundantly 

 mixed with conifers and summer- green trees ; but it is 

 difficult, at the present stage of intensive agriculture, 

 dating back so many centuries, to reconstruct exactly 

 the original distribution of the different kinds of 

 forests and pastures. The growing period extends over 

 the larger part of the year, and is hardly interrupted 

 by a short and temperate period of rest. 



Bananas and similar plants, as well as the tall tropical 

 palms, are absent, but hardy species of palms, bambus, 

 and ferns, even small lianas and epiphytes, and such 

 trees as camphor- wood, camellias, especially tea- trees and 

 liquidambars, are well represented. This is best seen in 

 the mountains in the west, which display in their forests 

 a magnificent profusion. Conifers of a southern type, 

 such as gingko and cypresses (and even pines), mark the 

 temperate nature of the climate, of which one is further 

 reminded by the presence of winter-bare trees, such as 

 chestnuts and maples. In short, it is legitimate to picture 

 the primitive vegetation of central China as resembling 

 that of the Alto Parana and Paraguay regions of South 

 America. Within such an immense area, however, strong 

 variations are certain to arise between the north and south, 

 the far interior and the coast districts, between the Alps of 

 Hupe, the low valley of the Yangtse, and the hill-land 

 of Hunan and Kiangsi. 



The fact that central China is the meeting-ground of 

 the northern and sub- tropical floras produces a bewilder- 

 ing wealth of plant-life, hardly surpassed in any other 

 region of the world. Separate mention should be made 

 of the western part, which includes Yunnan, Kwei- 

 chou, and western Sechwan. Proceeding westward, the 

 land becomes extremely broken. Increasingly loftier 

 mountains attract an almost excessive rainfall, and the 



