90 VEGETATION. 



w«/aws (Mablu, Lep.) also grows to a great size, and has a nearly 

 solid stem whicli is much prized in hut building for its lasting quali- 

 ties, and for prayer flagstaffs. Arundinaria Ilookeriana (Prong, Lep.) 

 of the upper forests has often stems of a beautiful bluish colour, and 

 A. racemosa, the Maling of the Nepalese, yields the best pony fodder 

 of all the bamboo tribe, and from its stems the best roofing mats are 

 made. Of the smaller sorts several grow so thickly together, over con- 

 siderable areas, that even a small dog cannot make its way through 

 them- and the most of the species flower simultaneously at intervals 

 of about a quarter of a century, and then die. The more noteworthy 

 of the large grasses which are very conspicuous objects in the autumn 

 are a few species of Ariindo with large, loose, cottony panicles, and 

 several of Saccharum and Imperata with smaller compact panicles of 

 similar composition. They are rare in forests, but are apt to become 

 troublesome pests in land that has been cleared for cultivation. Their 

 leaves are extensively used for thatching houses. Thysanolana acarifera 

 is a tall tufted grass with broad, bamboo-like leaves and spikes of 

 minute flowers arranged in large spreading panicles, which are much 

 used as brooms. Anthistiria gigantea and a reed (P/iragmifis) abound 

 in swampy places on suuny slopes up to 5,000 feet. Srnall herbaceous 

 forms are few in species and in individuals in the tropical and lower 

 part of the temperate zones, but are common in the interior at higher 

 elevations. Poa annua, an English grass, following the tracks of men 

 and quadrupeds in all temperate regions, grows from the perpetual 

 snow line down to 4,000 feet, and is abundant on cleared camping- 

 grounds and by roadsides. The Dutch clover, another European 

 introduction, is often associated with it. 



The rhododendrons may be called the glory of Sikhim, so 

 grandly beautiful are they, and also so abundant; so much so, in fact, 

 that they abound in places to the exclusion of almost everything 

 else. There are about thirty species, varying in size from the 

 gicrantic B. grande, a tree of 30 to 40 feet in height, and trunk girth- 

 in° up to 5 feet, down to the prostrate E. nivale, barely rising two 

 inches above the ground. A few species are sparingly found as low 

 as 6 000 feet, but tlie majority of them grow between 9,000 feet and 

 14 000 feet, and four species (lejndotum, nivale, setosum, and anthopogon) 

 ascend so high as 15-16,000 feet. At about 6,000 feet the large 

 flowered Dalhousko begins to appear. It is a small straggling shrub, 

 and as it is usually epiphytic on the tops of tall trees, it is hardly 

 noticed till the fallen flowers direct attention to it. Falconcri is a 

 laro-e o-regarious shrub, growing between 9,000 and 13,000 feet, with 

 biff" leathery leaves felted on the underside with rusty-coloured hairs. 

 Tte widely distributed species, arhorcum, is common up to 10,000 

 feet. Only one species, R. cmnabarimim, is said to be poisonous. 



