June, 1850. VEGETATION OF CHURRA. 281 



(three times more elevated) does not contain 500 more 

 flowering plants, and far fewer ferns, &c. ; but to the variety 

 of exposures ; namely, 1. the Jheels , 2. the tropical jungles, 

 both in deep, hot, and wet valleys, and on drier slopes ; 

 3. the rocks ; 4. the bleak table-lands and stony soils ; 

 5. the moor-like uplands, naked and exposed, where many 

 species and genera appear at 5000 to G000 feet, which are 

 not found on the outer ranges of Sikkim under 10,000.* 

 In fact, strange as it may appear, owing to this last cause, 

 the temperate flora descends fully 4000 feet lower in the 

 latitude of Khasia (25° N.) than in that of Sikkim (27° N.), 

 though the former is two degrees nearer the equator. 



The Pandanus alone forms a conspicuous feature in the 

 immediate vicinity of Churra ; while the small woods about 

 Mamloo, Moosmai, and the coal-pits, are composed of Sym- 

 plocos, laurels, brambles, and jasmines, mixed with small 

 oaks and Photinia, and many tropical genera of trees and 

 shrubs. 



Orclddece are, perhaps, the largest natural order in the 

 Khasia, where fully 250 kinds grow, chiefly on trees 

 and rocks, but many are terrestrial, inhabiting damp 

 woods and grassy slopes. I doubt whether in any other 

 part of the globe the species of orchids outnumber those of 

 any other natural order, or form so large a proportion of 

 the flora. Balsams are next in relative abundance (about 

 twenty-five), both tropical and temperate kinds, of great 

 beauty and variety in colour, form, and size of blossom. 

 Palms amount to fourteen, of which the Chamcerops and 

 Arenga are the only genera not found in Sikkim. Of 

 bamboos there are also fifteen, and of other grasses 150, 

 which is an immense proportion, considering that the 



* As Thalictrum, Anemone, primrose, cowslip, Tofieldia, Yew, Pine, Saxifrage, 

 Delphinium, Pedicularis. 



