FOREST ZONE. 261 



Androsace on the rocks, Siberian milkwort {Poly- 

 gala Sidirica), clematis [Clematis crt/mscsfolia), twin- 

 ing through the bushes at the entrances to ravines, 

 but seldom found on the plain, and on the border 

 of the mountains the rhubarb,^ likewise found in the 

 tree-belt as high as the alpine region." 



The upper limit of the forest zone is 10,000 feet 

 above the sea, the western side of the range being 

 the most densely wooded, and especially the slopes 

 which face the north. The variety of trees, how- 

 ever, is not great. The prevailing kinds are the 

 spruce [Abies obovata ?), the poplar [Popuhis Iremtila), 

 and willow, interspersed with arborescent j'uniper 

 [Juniperus communis ?), more rarely w^th the white 

 birch [Betula alba) ; and, on the eastern side of the 

 mountains, with the pine. All these trees are small 

 and stunted, and can bear no comparison with those 

 of Kan-su. 



Amongst bushes in the Ala-shan forests we ob- 

 served spiraea, white and yellow kurile tea [Poten- 

 tilla glabra, P. temdfolia), and hazel [Ostryopsis 

 Davidiana) on the open hillsides facing the south, 

 especially on the eastern side of the mountains, the 

 honeysuckle ; the juniper too is to be seen trailing 

 its long branches over the rocks on the outskirts of 

 the mountains. 



There is more variety of bushes in the wooded 

 ravines, where we saw syringa [Syringa vulgaris) 

 like the familiar plant of our gardens, a new species 

 of cotoneaster growing on the hillsides ; two kinds 



^ Not the medicinal, and different from the two species of Kan-su. 



