246 



OBSERVATIONS ON HIMALAYAN CONIFERS. 



has recently found it in Sikhim, forming a narrow belt of 1,000 

 feet, confined to very narrow gorges between 9,000 and 10,000 

 feet, on the immediate (south) flanks of Kunchinjinga, probably 

 the loftiest peak in the world, being above 28,000 feet. In the 

 innermost valleys the limits are 8,500 and 10,500. The Gork- 

 halee name is " Thingia" or " Tingoori-sulla the Bhotiya 

 " Semadoong." Dr. Hooker considers it to be by far the most 

 beautiful of Sikhim pines, whether as an individual tree, in 

 groups, or in forest masses. One specimen was 27 feet in girth 

 at the height of 5 feet. Timber inferior to that of Picea Web- 

 biana (being liable to warp, Webb), bark much used for sheds 

 and hovels ; also to roof-stacks of P. Webbiana planks. By 

 Dr. Griffith it is frequently mentioned in Bhotan proper, occur- 

 ring from 6,500 to 9,700 feet above the sea, "a large solitary 

 tree, with pendulous branches;" but the doubt, " probably a 

 Podocarpus," " Taxus or Abies Brunonis" {Journals, pp. 234, 

 220, 242, 243, 245, 246, 261, 267), must leave it uncertain, till 

 his specimens be compared, whether he intended this tree. 



Abies Brunoniana is stated to be a tall (70-80 feet) spreading 

 tree, brandling at 15 to 20 feet, with pendulous and very brittle 

 boughs ; and nearly allied to A. Canadensis, the Hemlock 

 spruce. Leaves solitary, two-ranked, an inch long, linear, obtuse, 

 minutely toothed towards the apex, with reflexed margin ; covered 

 below with milk-white mealiness, and so deciduous that the 

 slight shake of the branch is sufficient to detach them ; a circum- 

 stance true of drying specimens, which, Dr. Wallich remarks, 

 will not retain their leaves for a single day, but incredible of 

 living ones, when we remember the stormy region of which the 

 tree is a native. The cones are terminal, solitary sessile ovate ; 

 scales persistent ; rounded, with eroded margin. The cones are 

 only about an inch long, and form a striking contrast with those 

 of P. longifolia, one of which, from the Thakil mountain, is about 

 7 inches long, and twice as many round, near the base. 



V. Picea Pindrow. — Dr. Griffith describes Abies densa, 

 abundant on all the northern mountains of Bhotan, in terms 

 which lead us to conclude this, and especially P. Webbiana, to 

 be the species intended : he calls it " the black pine," alludes to 

 its " columnar " form, and says it is " the marked indicator of 

 great elevations ;" fixing its lower limit at 8,800 feet, the upper 

 at 12,478, and even 13,000 feet. He notes " many pines dead 

 as if blasted ;" " as usual, many blasted from lightning :" * 



* Journals, 246, 260, 264, 265, 276. During a recent visit to the alpine 

 regions of S.E. Gurhwal, I was assured by intelligent persons that these 

 forests of dead pines are the result not of lightning, but of the fires which 

 rage in the hot, dry months, May and June. 



I found 



