PLANTS OF THE DESERT. 195 



However, the sands of Kuzupchi, which the 

 Mongols say are from 10 to 50 miles wide, are not 

 in all parts the land of death and desolation. Nearer 

 the extreme edge, small oases may be seen covered 

 with a variety of plants, amongst which we noticed 

 the pretty shrub Hcdysarwn sp., completely covered 

 in the month of August with pink blossoms ; a few 

 small trees also grow here — Calligonum sp., Tragopy- 

 ru77i sp., and the remarkable cross-shaped Pugionium 

 cornutum. Only two specimens of this rare plant 

 have as yet been brought to Europe, viz., in the last 

 century by the naturalist Gmelin ; they are preserved 

 in the museums of London and Stuttgardt. To 

 my great regret I лvas unaware of the rarity of 

 the Pugionium, and therefore only gathered a few 

 specimens which I placed in my herbarium with 

 other kinds. This plant is often met with in the 

 sands of Kuzupchi, where it grows like a shrub to 

 the height of seven feet, with a stem i to ij inch 

 thick near the root. 



Two hundred miles to the west of the meridian 

 of Bautu, the sands of Kuzupchi cross to the left 

 bank of the Hoang-ho, whilst the valley of the river 

 (on its right bank) again changes its character 

 and becomes quite sterile. Coarse sand is mixed 

 with the clayey saline soil, and the valley itself, 

 especially nearer the bank of the River, is seamed 

 with the beds of dry watercourses which drain off 

 the rainwater. Vegetation becomes very scanty, so 

 much so that the soil is for the most part bare and 

 studded with little mounds (3 to 6 feet high), on 



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