100 FLORA INDICA. 



hundred species of temperate types common to both^ being 

 habitually found 1-3000 feet lower on the Khasia than in 

 Sikkim. For the same reason many tropical types, and even 

 species, ascend higher in Sikkim than they do in the Khasia ; 

 the warm forest-clad and sheltered Himalayan valleys at 5- 

 7000 feet elevation, offering a very different climate to the 

 broad grassy tops of the Khasia. Such apparent exceptions 

 to the laws of distribution are frequent in India, rendering 

 it very difficult for the beginner to comprehend even the 

 general features of this branch of science, and for us to re- 

 duce them to such a system as shall be readily acquired. 



It is unnecessary here to enumerate the prevalent forms of 

 the temperate flora of India, including as they do every na- 

 tural family, and almost every extensive or widely-spread 

 genus of north Europe, Siberia, and colder temperate Ame- 

 rica, and this whether of shrubs, trees, or herbs. The excep- 

 tions become, however, the more important from their com- 

 parative paucity ; of these we may mention the total absence 

 of Erica, Arbutus, Azalea, Fagus, Cochlearia, Cistacece, Tilia, 

 l/upinus, Rhinanthus, Empetrum, various Umbellifera, whilst 

 we find but few species of fl«er«aM?M, Trifolium, Centaur ea, Ve- 

 ronica, and Dianthus. 



Of genera many of which have hitherto been usually con- 

 sidered as most characteristic of other parts of the world, but 

 for whose maximimi development we must look to the Hi- 

 malaya, are Rhododendron, Monotropa, Pediculai'is, Coryda- 

 lis, Nepeta, Carex, Spircea, Primula, Cerasus, Lonicera, Vibur- 

 num, and Saussurea. 



Lastly, the Alpine or Arctic Flora demands a few words 

 here, though it forms comparatively so small a feature in the 

 vegetation of aU India, that its full discussion must be re- 

 served to our remarks on the Alpine region of the Himalaya. 

 This, which hardly reaches its extreme upper limit at 18,500 

 feet above the sea, commences (as we restrict it) above the 

 limit of trees throughout a great part of the Himalaya ; it 

 partakes in its characteristic genera of the temperate Mora, 



