106 THE VEGETATION OF TEMPERATE AND ALPINE SIKHIJI. 



met tlie view. There was not a bush six inches high, and the only 

 approach to a woody plant were minute creeping willows and dwarf 

 rhododendrons with a very few prostrate junipers and Ephedra. 

 The bottom of the Lachung Valley at Momay is broad, tolerably 

 level and grassy. The ground was marshy and covered with cow- 

 slips. Ranunculus, gi'asses and sedges, Ci/anmdkiis, blue asters, gentians, 

 etc. Wild clover, shepherd's purse, dock, plantain, and chickweed 

 are imported here by yaks; but the common Pn<He//« of Europe is 

 wild, and so is a groundsel- like Senccio Jacohcca, Raniincidus , Sihbaldia 

 and 200 other plants." In addition may be noted some small species 

 of Pedicidaris and Draha ; also Mandragora caulescens (belonging to the 

 same genus as the well-known mandrake of scripture, to which in 

 former times many magical virtues were ascribed). It is difficult to 

 obtain perfect specimens of this plant as yaks are so partial to it. 



The Donkia Pass, at an elevation of 18,000 feet, is situated seven 

 miles above Momay, and the path to it runs over a broad, boulder- 

 strewn valley, with shallow streams meandering thi'ough it. Some lakes 

 are passed, all surrounded by marshy bogs where many plants grow. 

 During the ascent the vegetation becomes more and more scanty, and 

 the rocky heights rising steeply on either side from the pass are 

 sterile. One Arcnaria ascends to the summit, and a woolly Saussurea 

 and Delphinium cjlaciale are last seen at the base of the steep path 

 winding a few hundred feet up to the pass. The last-named smells 

 most disagreeably and strongly of musk, and the natives assert that 

 the musk-deer derives its scent from feeding on this plant — an absurd 

 belief, as the plant grows only at high altitudes far above the habitat of 

 the animal. The shallow waters of the stream flowing from Kin- 

 chinjhow and Donkia to Momay support quantities of reddish-brown 

 Sedum and Rheum nohile. Gentians predominate, and all have bright 

 blue flowers which unfold in every brief glimpse of sunshine. 

 Allurdia glaha, an aromatic plant with large flowers like purple 

 Chrysanthemums, grows in low dense tufts. Aconitmn napelhis, which 

 gradually decreases in size as it ascends, is here reduced to a minute 

 plant with two or three leaves and one flower. Other plants are — 

 Ranniicuhis loettis, Cyananthus of two species, the Edelweiss [Leontopo- 

 dium alpi?ittm), Erigcron, Crcmanthodium reniforme, Lactuca, Duli/oea, Crepis 

 glomerata, Saussurea, and the curious lichen-like Antennaria muscoides. 



The prevailing feature of the vegetation growing from 17,000 

 feet upwards is the variety of plants growing in dense, hard, hemis- 

 pheric tufts, such as Arenaria, Saxifraga, Saussurea, Astragalus, and 

 JJgosotis Ilookeri'. The flora on the moraines of the Kinchinjhow 

 glacier at 16,000 feet furnishes an instance of what may be expected 

 in such situations. Eriophyton hbnalaicum is common. It is a white, 

 woolly Labiate, rooting in loose sandy debris, with bright blue flowera 



