GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS. 559 
two hundred feet the vegetation was almost limited to numerous 
species of Rhododendrons, which formed a continuous zone of eleven 
hundred feet broad on the steep slopes of the mountain. A little 
Andromeda made itself quite remarkable there ; and by the road- 
side the botanist saw two plants which reminded him of his far 
distant home—the Meadow Grass (Poa annua) and the Shepherd’s 
Purse (Capsella). At thirteen thousand two hundred feet the 
soil becomes hard and frozen, and at twenty-two thousand feet 
perpetual snow covers the mountain side. 
The traveller finally attained the summit of the pass at twenty- 
four thousand three hundred feet above the level of the sea, where 
he still found many species of Compositee, Gramineae, and an 
Arenaria, with great masses of the curious Saussurea gossypina, 
covered with a white down, which felt soft to the touch, and 
about ten inches high. The species of covering given to this plant 
is almost exceptional among the plants of the Himalayas; the 
Alpine species which are scattered about, such as the Arenarias, 
Primroses. , Saxifrages, Ranunculus, Gentians, Grasses, and Cype- 
rads, iving their foliage perfectly naked. 
The following year Dr. Hooker in one of his ascents towards 
.Thibet, collected upwards of two hundred species upon one of the 
_erests of the Himalayas, among which he found ten Crucifera, 
a twenty Composites, ten Ranunculaceae, nine. Alcinacee, ten As- 
tragals, eight Potentillas, twelve Graminee, fifteen Pedicularia, 
and seven Borraginacee. Finally, on the 7th of September, 1849, 
he reached the culminating point of the Himalaya flora on Mont - 
Donkia, at an elevation of twenty-three thousand four hundred 
feet, the lowest limit of perpetual snow being about twenty thou- 
sand one hundred and fifty feet. The Arenaria rupifraga is the 
only Phanerogam which he met with at this elevation ; Festuca 
ovina, a Saussurea, and a little Fern, Woodsia, were, however, 
found very near the summit, where he observed many Lichens 
and some Mosses. The Lichens and “Mosses are thus the last 
plants which disappear on the confines of life. 
