1836.] made at Sadiyd, Upper Assam. 807 



to 10 miles. They may be said to be throughout their whole extent 

 exclusively clothed with dense grass jungle. 



Up to Rungpoor the eye meets nothing but grasses, and an occasion- 

 al Bombax, a tree remarkable for its ramification, the branches being 

 nearly approximated in whorls, and forming right angles with the 

 trunk. About Buggooa Mookh belts of jungle begin to appear, here 

 and there approaching to the banks of the river. From this place 

 upwards the belts increase in extent and number, and from Seloni 

 Mookh, just below the confluence of the Dihong with the Burhampoo* 

 tur to Sadiyd, they preponderate much over the grassy tracts. Above 

 Sadiyd these tracts recommence at least on the northern bank, but 

 they disappear soon entirely : the grasses that clothe the churs are, 

 especially throughout Lower and Central Assam, of gigantic size, 

 some of them often measuring 20 feet in height. They consist of 

 four or five species of Saccharum, the kuggra, mog, (white,) molaha, 

 (red) and telee, (blackish,) of the Assamese, and a species of Arundo y 

 which is perhaps tbe longest of all, the nul (or podomolee*) of the 

 natives. Towards Sadiyd, however, very large tracts are covered with 

 Imperata Cylindrica, the ooloo-kher of Assam, which grows to the 

 height of 5 to 7 feet. As the genus Saccharum far preponderates 

 over the others, and is perhaps during its inflorescence one of the 

 most conspicuous genera of the order, the appearance presented by 

 the churs during the flowering of their occupants, can be more easily 

 conceived than described. 



It may perhaps be convenient to consider the botany of Assam 

 under the following heads. 



I. Botany of the Burhampootur, including the churs. 



Of these, Graminese form, as I have said, almost exclusively the 

 Flora. Of the immediate banks, the predominant order is, — Compo- 

 site?, Polygoneee, Scrophularinese, Graminese, (among which is a species* 

 of Alopecurus,) Boragineae, have several representatives : from Jor- 

 hdth upwards to Diboroo Mookh, a large annual Ranunculus occurs ex- 

 tensively, and throughout the same distance large patches not un- 

 commonly occur of a species of Irematodon, (I. sabulosus, mihij a 

 species of Polentilla is also not uncommonly met with. 



II. Botany of the plains. 



Predominant plants, Graminese ; of these the most common about 

 Sadiyd are Imperata cylindrica, Saccharum spontaneum, Saccharum 

 fuscum (Roxb.) in wet places, and a probably new, large and coarse 

 species of Panicum. Among these may be found two or three Orchi- 

 dese, Polygonese, Leguminosse, Cyperacese, one Viola, and a species of 

 Exacum which is particularly conspicuous from its bright blue flowers. 

 * See Buchanan's Dindjpur, p. 168. — Ed. 



