702 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HLST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXI. 



a level of 5,235, and Islamabad 32 miles farther on at a level of 5,385 feet, 

 where several streams join to form the River Jhelum. On the east of the 

 province are the Lidar and Sind Valleys, the centres of which are Pailgam 

 at 7,200 feet, and Sonamarg at 8,600 feet, the latter so called because the 

 rays of the morning sun shining on the ragwort, dandelions, buttercups, 

 marsh-marigold, and potentillas that clothe its slopes, give it the appear- 

 ance of a veritable " field of the cloth of gold." To the north lies Nagmarg 

 at an elevation of 8.700 feet, with the Lolab Valley below at a level of 

 about 5,700, and on the west Gulmarg, '' the meadow of flowers," a little 

 Valley on the eastern slopes of the Pir Panjal Range, at a height of 

 8,400 feet, having another meadow Kilanmarg above it at a level of 10,000 

 feet, the whole surmounted by Apharwat, 14,800 feet high, at the north end 

 of the hills. Thus the flora of the Vale of Kashmir have a range of 

 between 2,000 and 16,000 feet above mean sea level, and species of almost 

 every order and genus of flora are to be found in the valley. 



Going up the cart road at the end of April, the ravines of the Jhelum 

 will be found covered with pink and red blossomed oleander, Nerium 

 odorum, and a number of wild fruit trees lining the road, such as the large 

 red-flowered pomegranate, Funicea granatum ; pink crab-apple, Pyrus baccata ; 

 white pear, P. Fashia ; pink plum, Frvnus Fuddum, and almond, P. amyg- 

 dMus ; white cherry, F. cerasus ; fig, Ficus Roxburghii, and olive, Elaeagnus 

 umbellata, also the mulberry, Moms aUa, with its long red and white fruit, 

 and M. serrata with its smaller purple fruit. The avenues of the valley 

 road from Baramula to Srinagar, and those in the capital itself, are of the 

 tall poplar, Fopulus ciliata, the thick white pollen of which coats the ground 

 so extensively in the early spring as to give it the appearance of having 

 been snowed on. 



After the winter frosts have passed, the first flowers to bloom after the 

 snows melt are yellow primroses, Fvimula fiorihunda, and purple many- 

 headed primulas, F. denticulata, also the bright hued lilac iris, /. nepalensis, 

 so characteristic of the village cemeteries of Kashmir, purple and yellow 

 loosestrife, Lysimachia chenopodAoides, and L. japonica, the little purple blue- 

 tinged androsace, A. lanuginosa; pink centunculus, C. ieweZ/ws ; the bright 

 blue pimpernel, ^J^(7^a//^s arueraszs, and the small flowered myrtles, Myrsine 

 semiserrata and africana. With the advance of spring are to be found on 

 the higher margs the white blossoms of podophyllum, F. Eviodi, which later 

 turn into large scarlet berries ; yellow Corydalis Goraniana, and purple C. 

 rutmfolia ; yellow tower-mustard, Arabis glabra, and the white variety, A. 

 mnplexicaulis ; yeUow and white aromatic leaved skimmia, S. laui-eola, the 

 berries of which first turn green then red ; white Staphylea Emodi ; purple 

 clover, Trifolium pratense ; white pink-edged Dutch clover, T. repens ; the 

 small yellow Trigonella pubescens ; delicate white spiroea, S, vestita ; pink 

 bramble, Rubus niveus, and the white species, R. macilentus ; the white wild 



