INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 237 



lower hills, together with Cycas pectinata and Gnetum scan- 

 dens, which are abundant everywhere. 



As in all very humid climates, orchids occur in very great 

 abundance in the Khasia mountains, constituting there at 

 least one-twelfth of the vegetation, and being by far the 

 largest natural order of flowering plants ! They are equally 

 abundant at all elevations. Many are epiphytes, but terrestrial 

 species are also common, both in dense woods and in open 

 grassy places. Scitaminece are very numerous. From the 

 barreimess of the surface over a great part of the hills, grasses 

 constitute the most prominent feature in the flora of this 

 district, occurring gregariously in prodigious abundance. 

 Most of the species belong to the tropical division of the 

 order, coarse Panicece being the prevailing forms, but there 

 are also many Poacea of European genera. 



In some respects the vegetation of the Khasia approaches 

 more closely in its features to that of the mountains of the 

 Peninsula than of the Himalaya : this arises mainly from 

 the form of the hills and their much less rugged outline, 

 their valleys being more open, though with steeper flanks, and 

 the hill-tops broader. Hence the grassy slopes being covered 

 with clumps of shrubby vegetation, and the forest being con- 

 fined to sheltered localities, are remarkable features in com- 

 mon vrith the Nilghiri, but quite foreign to the Himalaya ; to 

 which must be added a very strong resemblance in the genera 

 and species forming the mass of the shrubby vegetation, which, 

 though almost all Himalayan, are there less gregarious and 

 more interspersed with large trees of diflerent genera. These 

 consist of :— 



Rhododendron arhoreum. Styrax. 



Pieria ovalifolia. CaUicarpa, several species. 



Ligustrum. Celastrus, ditto. 



Eurya, two species. Micheha, ditto. 



Vaccinium Iracteatwn. Goughia Himalaica. 



Gaultheria, several species. Gromphandra. 



Symplocos, ditto. Photinia, several species. 



