INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 197 



the extreme west from whicli both classes of plants are ab- 

 sent, or in which these exterior Himalayan trees are found 

 along -with forms common in Kunawar and Kishtwar. Fo- 

 thergilla involucrata (first observed by Falconer, in Kashmir) 

 is a curious instance of a tree plentiful in all parts of the 

 temperate zone, from Kashmir to the Ravi, but not found 

 further east. 



The alpine flora of the Western Himalaya presents the 

 same gradual transition from humid and eastern types to the 

 characteristic forms of Western Asia, which we have ob- 

 served in the tropical and temperate jzones. The mountains 

 of Eastern Kumaon are rich in beautiful Nipal forms, such as 

 Cyananthus, Meconopsis, Codonopsis, various gentians, saxi- 

 frages, and many others ; but their number rapidly diminishes 

 as we advance westward, and the vegetation of the higher 

 Alps of Kashmir is almost identical even in species with that 

 of the mountains of Afghanistan, Persia, and Siberia. 



For our earliest knowledge of the vegetation of the Western 

 Himalaya we are indebted to Dr. Govan, who seems to have 

 explored some parts of Sirmur and Garhwal, and to General 

 Hardwicke, who travelled in Garhwal and communicated plants 

 to Roxburgh and Wallich. The Wallichian Herbarium con- 

 tains specimens from both these travellers, and also from 

 the Gerards, who collected in the Simla hills and in Kunawar. 

 Dr. Wallich's travels extended only to Hardwar and Dehra 

 Dlmn, but he also distributed extensive collections made in 

 the interior of Kumaon by Blinkworth and others. 



The list of botanists who have investigated the flora of the 

 Western Himalaya, includes the names of Royle, Jacquemont, 

 Falconer, Grifiith, Munro, Edgeworth, Madden, Strachey, 

 Winterbottom, and Fleming; but we have already (pp. 60- 

 70) entered into such details regarding their labours, as to 

 render it unnecessary to dwell upon them here. Mr. Edge- 

 worth collected in Kumaon, Garhwal, Simla, and Kunawar, 

 and he has recently communicated to the Hookerian Her- 

 barium a valuable set of plants from Cliamba and Kulu, and 



