GEOGRAPHICAL BOTANY. 369 



formerly stated by Royle, e. g. Nako at 3658m. ; and 

 the cultivation of the Cerealia, which is limited to Hor- 

 deum hexastichon and celeste, and a Panicum, extends 

 here to 3962 m., whilst in the southern Himalaya it only 

 extends to 3048 m. Woody plants are not entirely 

 absent from this elevated valley ; even low trees, an 

 indigenous Juniperus, and cultivated poplars and willows, 

 are met with. The character of the vegetation, however, 

 lies in the bushes, which was also noticed by Moorcroft 

 These consist not only of thorny Astragali, but also of 

 Genista, Rosa, Ephedra, and Juniperus. The absolute 

 limit of elevation of the Phanerogamia west of Bekar was 

 most accurately determined by Jacquemont. Here, in 

 two passes leading from Thibet, Gantong (5486 m.) and 

 Kimbrong (5581 m. according to Gerard's measurement), 

 he left these plants below him. The leguminous shrubs 

 of the valleys of Kunawar and Lesser Thibet were not 

 found on the slopes of this pass, only a few alpine plants, 

 the last of which was met with at Gantong, about 

 2 300 m. beneath the summit, hence at a level of 

 5200 m. Here he found two Potentill<B, Corydalis pliy- 

 socarpa, the new Caryophyllaceous plant Periandra COBS- 

 pitosa, which resembles in appearance Silene Acaulis, 

 with Allardia and JEntrichium Jacquemontii (Decs, iij 

 p. 309). Much lower down, the traveller met with a 

 rose, forming the last shrub, and considerably lower still 

 a Juniperus. At Kinbrong the vegetation also disap- 

 peared 300 m. below the pass, with a Ranunculus, Cory- 

 dalis, and Ligularia nana ; but at a level of 5400 m. 

 Jacquemont saw an isolated green spot in the stony desert- 

 waste. This was the highest evidence of vegetable life 

 which he perceived (ii, p. 298). He estimated the snow- 

 limit here at little less than 6000 m., so that between 

 the last plants and perpetual snow there is an intermediate 

 bare region extending through about 2000'. 



As regards Kunawar, that remarkable transition-dis- 

 trict between the British Himalaya and Thibet, on the 

 central Sutlej, where the influence of the monsoon on 



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