234 



OBSERVATIONS OX HIMALAYAN CONIFERS. 



Smilhiana, and below Picea Pindrow. The same traveller 

 states it to be the uppermost pine on both the north and south 

 face of the Laniakaga Pass, leading from the Ganges to the 

 Buspa, reaching up to 11,500 feet on the former, and 8,500 feet 

 on the latter side. On the Harung Pass, behind Sungla, he 

 describes it as occurring 600 feet above Picea Webbiana, grow- 

 ing with Rhododendron cam pant/ latum. Between Jaka and the 

 Roopin Pass I observed it associated with the lowermost speci- 

 mens of Picea Webbiana ; and while the authorities just cited 

 for Gurhvval are sufficient to justify the epithet excelsa, the mass 

 of the species in Busehur is certainly below the silver fir. 

 Captain A. Gerard fixes the limits near Simlah at 7,006 and 

 8,425 feet, and this estimate was adopted generally in the Jour- 

 nal for January 1845, but he himself gives 12,140 feet as the 

 superior limit on the snowy range of the Leem, which is the 

 same tree. On Muhasoo, near Simlah, it reaches nearly 9,000 

 feet, and on Kumuloree, behind Nagkunda, 9,500 — 10,000. At^ 

 Kotkhaee it abounds at 5,500 ; and along the Beeskool stream, 

 below Deorah, in Joobul, it may be traced, mixed with alder, 

 nearly down to the Pubur, opposite Raeengurh, probably its 

 lowest site, being little more than 5,000 feet above the sea ; and 

 here only on the shaded side of the mountains. Dr. Griffith 

 (p. 239) once observed it in Bhotan, mixed with P. longifolia, 

 as low as 5,400 feet. We may therefore fix on 5,000 and 12,140 

 feet above the sea-line as the extreme limits of this species. 

 We have no accounts of its presence beyond Busehur till we 

 reach Kashmeer, whence Mr. Winterbottom traced it to the 

 mountains of Gilgit in latitude 35^, its most northern habitat 

 hitherto ascertained, as Bhotan, in 27°, is the most southern. 

 Dr. Griffith (Itinerary Notes, p. 329) states it to be common 

 on the mountains of Kafiristan, north of Julalabad ; west of 

 which meridian it has not been traced. The Kafir name is 

 Piunee. 



Pinus excelsa seems to prefer the more cheerful aspects of 

 the mountains, provided they do not face due south. It flowers 

 from the end of April to the middle of June, according to the 

 elevation and exposure : the cones are erect while young, and 

 are about an inch long in October ; by April following they are 

 3 to 4 inches in length, and altogether require 18 months to 

 mature. In the allied American species, Pinus strobus, Lord 

 Weymouth's pine, the seeds fall in October of the second year. 

 The cotyledons of P. excelsa average about nine, P. longifolia 

 about twelve. 



On the northern side of the Roopin Pass many specimens may 

 be noticed of P. excelsa with bright green leaves, which, on 

 others, are mingled with foliage of the glaucous green, proper 



