258 



Even trees thrive when they can be watered and each village 

 has a little grove of willows and poplars under government 

 control for the benefit of the village. There are a number of 

 other cultivated trees that do well in different parts of the 

 country. These are the apple, walnut, mulberry and apricot, 

 the last being the most important. In the apricot season the 

 roofs of the houses are covered with the yellow fruit drying in 

 the sun, and even the kernels are used for oil or food. 



Fig. 3. On the hillsides scarcely a twentieth of the surface is covered with vege- 

 tation. The whole country is apparently above the tree line, but with irri- 

 gation even trees flourish. Near Dras, Western Tibet. 



Indigenous trees are very few. Myricaria elegans, M. ger- 

 manica, Jmiiperus excelsa and HippophcB rhamnoides are the 

 commonest. Elcsagnus, Betula Bhojpattra, Ulmus pumila, Loni- 

 cera glaiica, and Fraxinus xanthoxylloides are local. Four 

 poplars are fairly common, Populus balsamifera, P. alba, P. 

 Etiphratica and the Lombardy poplar. There are no forests, 

 and the only thickets are along the streams or on little islands in 

 the streams. The conspicuous plants of these thickets are the 

 two myricarias HippophcB rhamnoides and Clematis orientalis, 

 a fine creeper with dark orange brown or yellowish flowers. 

 The most conspicuous plant of the rocky hillsides is a woody rose, 

 Rosa Wehhiana, with a wealth of pink flowers. 



