BLUE PINE IX THE HIMALAYAS 175 



DRY HIGH-LEVEL NON-MONSOON ZONE BLUE PINE 



These forests are situated at 9,000 to 11,500 feet altitude mainly ii 

 the southeastern regions of Tibet behind the main Himalayan ranges in 

 narrow valleys or gorges, e.g., the Chumbi, Po Tsangpo, and Po Yigrong 

 valleys. In Po Yigrong, moist high-level heavy monsoon zone blue pine is 

 found up to Temo Chamma. Further up, dry high-level blue pine occurs in 

 mixed pine forests with Pinus tabulae formis 3 Populus, Salix, Quercus, 

 Larix, and Picea spp. or in open pure crop with Querous ilex L. 

 (Schweinfurth, 1957; Ward, 1942). 



CONCLUSION 



The blue pine has seven different provenances, four in the west and 

 three in the east. In the west, the moist lower-level and the moist upper- 

 level monsoon zone provenances form the largest forests which spread out 

 over an extensive region of the middle Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh and 

 Uttar Pradesh. In Kammu and Nepal, the middle Himalayan region is not so 

 extensive and the monsoon zone blue pine grows only in a narrow altitudinal 

 range. Therefore, the distinction between the moist lower-level and the 

 moist-upper level blue pine types in Jammu and Nepal is not as clear as 

 in the middle Himalayas of Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The moist 

 upper-level monsoon zone blue pine forests show the best growth in these 

 two states (Figs. 2, 3, and 4). The dry or the arid non-monsoon zone 

 provenances, on the other hand, grow more extensively in Kashmir and in 

 dry inner valleys of Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Nepal. In 

 Kumaon the major blue pine forests are in the dry zone. The dry low- 

 level blue pine forests are the second best in showing good growth in 

 India (Fig. 2). Thus Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Nepal 

 are the major blue pine growing regions in the west (Fig. 1). 



Not much is known about the three provenances of the Eastern Himalayas 

 except that Bhutan is the major blue pine area of the east and it has 

 excellent forests of moist upper-level heavy monsoon zone blue pine 

 (Fig. 1). 



ACCLIMATIZATION POTENTIAL 



Blue pine shows a high acclimatization potential and is adapted to 

 grow both in the extreme wet and warm low regions and arid and cold high 

 altitudes in the Himalayas. Its absence from some areas like Sikkim and 

 the moist zone of Kumaon is hard to explain, but cultivated trees which 

 show good flowering and seed-set have been observed in Kumaon, Darjeeling, 

 Kalimpong, Lachung valley in' Sikkim, and Shillong (Hooker, 1855; Troup, 

 1921; Biswas, 1940; R. V. Sitholey, personal communication). R. C. Joshi 

 has given me the following figures of growth rate from a blue pine planta- 

 tion (8,000 feet) near Nainital , Kumaon. 



Age Average height (ft) Average diameter (in) 



30 years 15.8 



34 years 



39 years 18.6 



46 years 



20 



8 



22 



1 



25 



1 



25 



3 



