INTROMTCTORY ESSAY. 105 



hilly districts of India and Ceylon. Amongst the more con- 

 spicuous trees common to Java and India are SedgwicUa 

 cerasifolia, Griff., a native of Assam, which is undoubtedly 

 the lAquidambar Altingia of Blume ; Marlea, which spreads 

 into China on the one hand, and throughout the Himalaya to 

 the mountains south of Kashmir on the other. The curious 

 Cardiopteris lobata of Java is also a native of Assam, and 

 several oaks and chesnuts, Antidesmm, a willow, and Myrica, 

 have already proved to be common to the Khasia and Java. 



3. The China and Japan type. — In the Indian flora we meet 

 with many temperate genera and species, which are also com- 

 mon to North America west of the Rocky Mountains, and 

 which are foreign to Europe, to America east of that range, 

 and to Western Siberia ; besides many tropical species that 

 are also Malayan and West Polynesian. The Chinese type 

 is abundant in the temperate regions of the Himalaya, ex- 

 tending westward to Garhwal and Kumaon, but is most fully 

 developed in Sikkim, Bhotan, and the Khasia. Amongst the 

 most striking examples of its temperate forms in the Hima- 

 laya, are species of Aucuba, Helwingia, Stachyurus, Enkian- 

 thus, Abelia, Skimmia, Bucklandia, Adamia, Benthamia, Cory- 

 lopsis, genera that have been considered as almost exclusively 

 Japanese and Chinese, and of most of which there are but so- 

 litary species known in that country. 



Other temperate plants common to India and China are 

 Microptelea parvifolia (a species of elm) ; Hamamelis Chinen- 

 sis, found by us in the Khasia ; NymphcBa pygmaea, and Vac- 

 cinium bracteatum, both of which occur in the Khasia ; and 

 Quercus serrata, which is a native of Nepal, Sikkim, and the 

 Khasia. Besides these cases of absolute identity of species, 

 laany Chinese genera may be noticed. lUicium inhabits the 

 Khasia, Thea Assam; and Magnolia, Sikkim and Khasia. 

 Schizandreae are peculiarly characteristic of the Chinese 

 Flora, but also extend into Java ; Lardizabalece, which at- 

 tain their maximum of development in the Himalaya, are 

 Japanese and Chinese, a few only having hitherto been de- 



p 



