p66 GEOGRAPHICAL BOTANY. 



the Pass (2681m.), whilst on this side it terminated below 

 the alpine meadows. The alpine vegetation presented 

 merely local differences from that of the British Himalaya ; 

 its spring-plants were in flower at the commencement of 

 May. On the north side, therefore, Jacquemont first 

 met with the same trees he had left on the southern 

 slope, and further down, in the district of the valley of 

 Cashmere, he arrived at forests of an ^Esculus of the 

 same species as that indigenous to the British Himalaya. 

 The older opinions concerning the Pirpanjol, which Royle 

 disseminated, are contradicted by these Reports. But as 

 there is no tropical region in the valley of Cashmere, we 

 have here also a proof that the diffusion of the Himalayan 

 plants is not limited by the boundaries of the monsoon. 

 The tropical forms of India may be wanting in Cashmere 

 and there is no evidence to show that they exist there 

 and yet the forest trees may appear the very same, and 

 the character of the vegetation for the most part identical 

 with that of the British Himalaya ; in fact, the greater 

 number of species may be common to both of them. The 

 natives of the Pirpanjol say that it is always raining there 

 (p. 225) ; hence this Pass may form one of the points of 

 the boundary, as far as which tropical forms accompany the 

 wooded slopes of the Himalaya. When thus considered, 

 all the known facts are connected under a common point 

 of view, but they are by no means sufficient for deter- 

 mining the absolute sphere of diffusion of all the Indian 

 plants. Although Royle has rendered it probable that this 

 area does not extend west of the monsoon-limit, yet the 

 line at which the Himalayan plants cease, towards the north, 

 is either totally unknown to us, as is the case beyond 

 Cashmere, or merely indicated by uncertain evidence. 



Royle's statements regarding the flora of the elevated 

 plains of Afghanistan are very general ; but where Griffith 

 is his authority, the fragmentary notices derived from his 

 letters are substantiated by the catalogue of a series of 

 Afghanistan genera, the seeds of which were also trans- 

 mitted by Griffith. They are nearly all European forms, 



