126 BOTANY OF INDIA. 



mense cedar-like tree with purple cones, from which the 

 Tartars prepare a kind of indigo. 



The discovery of a beautiful species of palm in the Val- 

 ley of Nepaul must be regarded as an extraordinary phe- 

 nomenon, and an exception to the general character of the 

 vegetation of a mountain region. This palm was found by 

 Dr. Wallich in one circumscribed spot, at an elevation of 

 5000 feet above the level of the sea, and has been named 

 by him Chamcerops Martmna,'- after the celebrated Brazilian 

 traveller and naturalist Von Martius, whose magnificent 

 work on the Palms of Brazil fully entitles him tolmy dis- 

 tinction that one man of science can confer on another. 



It is at an elevation similar to that of the Valley of Ke- 

 paul that the beautiful and graceful family of ferns" begin to 

 develope themselves in prodigious luxuriance and variety ; 

 nor do they cease to flourish Under an elevation of 10,000 

 feet. Mosses, of which many very curious kinds have been 

 forwarded to this country by Dr. Wallich, prevail for the 

 most part in similar situations. Lichens are more sparino-ly 

 scattered than in Europe, and constitute, as in every other 

 part of the globe, the limits of mountain vegetation.' 



* Since Ais notice was sent to press, we have received the ninth fasci- 

 culus of the P/arete Asiatics Rariores, in which tliis palm is exotu- 

 sitely figured from a drawing executed under the immediate inspectioa 

 of Von Martius. ' 



i 



