VEGETATION. 91 



Hopker mentions that " many of his young goats and kids died after 

 eating it, foaming at the mouth and grinding their teeth. When the 

 wood is used as fuel it causes the face to swell and the ej^es to in- 

 flame;" and he notes that the honey of the wild bee is much sought 

 after, except in spring, when it is said to be poisoned by rhododen 

 dron flowers. A small tree, Fieris ovalifolia, is interesting on account 

 if its wide altitudinal distribution, ranging from a little above sea level 

 to 10,000 feet elevation. 



Sikhim is almost as famous for its Primulas as for its rhododen- 

 drons, and they also affect high elevations. There are from 30 to 

 40 species; the majority of them growing at altitudes from 12 — 

 15,000 feet, two or three only being found below 10,000 feet, and 

 about an equal number so high as 16-17,000 feet. P. Sikhimensis 

 which is found from 11 — 15,000 feet, and resembles a gigantic cow- 

 slip, is one of the very few Sikhim primroses Avhich really thrive in 

 England, where the majority of them merely survive long enough to 

 flower once in a miserable sort of way and then die. This is to be 

 regretted, as all are beautiful, and they are very varied in colour, some 

 being white, and others yellow, blue, pink, or purple, which is the 

 prevailing colour. 



Among numerous notable herbaceous plants are several species of 

 Meconopsis^ fritillaries, deadly aconites, gentians, violets, geraniums, 

 potentillas, saxifrages, baltiams, many species oi Pedicular is, Craivfurdia, 

 Did?/7)iocarptis, Chirita, Smialaeina, jatamansi, and rhubai'bs, one of 

 which, Mheiun nobile, was considered by Hooker the handsomest her- 

 baceous plant in Sikhim, and he thus describes it: — "On the black 

 rocks the gigantic rhubarb forms pale pyramidal towers a yard high, 

 of inflated reflexed bracts, that conceal the flowers, and overlajDj^ing 

 one another like tiles, protect them from the wind and rain ; a whorl 

 of broad green leaves edged with red spreads on the ground at the 

 base of the j^lant, contrasting in colour with the transparent bracts, 

 which are yellow, margined with pink. It is called ' Tchuka, ' and 

 the acid stems are eaten both raw and boiled ; they are hollow and full 

 of pure water : the root resembles that of the medicinal rhubarb, but 

 is sjjongy and inert ; it attains a length of four feet and grows as thick 

 as the arm. The dried leaves afibrd a substitute for tobacco; a small 

 kind of rhubarb is, however, more commonly used in Tibet for this 

 purpose." It may be mentioned that in the late military expedition 

 to the Tibetan frontier a batch of plants of this rhubarb growing 

 in a sequestered valley were mistaken in the distance, one misty 

 morning, for a surprise party of the Tibetan army. 



Among the more remarkable of the climbing plants of the 

 "tropical zone" are one or more species of each of the following 

 genera, viz., Thunlcrgia, Beaumo7itia^ Bauliinia^ Chonemorpha, Aristolochia, 



