OBSERVATIONS ON HIMALAYAN CONIFERS. 



251 



height.* It does not seem to attain this magnitude in the N.W 



mountains, as will appear from the following measurements at 

 five feet from the ground : — 



Clioor mountain. 



No. 



1 



17 



feet j 





2 



15 



" > 



?? 



3 



13 



" 1 



5> 



4 



12 



99 ) 



55 



5 







55 



6 



14| 



\) 



55 



7 



13| 





55 



8 



13f 





M 



9 



11+ 



::! 



55 



10 



17* 



••{ 



Kumuloree mountain, above 



■ 



Nagkunda. 



asrkunda. 



ear Kalapanee, Changsheel 

 Range. 



VI. Picea Webbiana. — Under the temporary name of 

 Abies densa, Dr. Griffith informs us, that this species, rare be- 

 low 9,500 feet, constitutes vast woods at 12,000 feet, below the 

 belt of Rhododendrons in Bhotan, as on the Rodoola Pass : 

 adding — " It has a tabular form, and very sombre appearance, 

 and can be recognized even at great distances by its black co- 

 lumnar palm-like appearance " (Journals, pp. 258, 259, 265, 

 with Itinerary Notes, p. 141, No. 662). We next meet it in 

 Sikhim, where Dr. Hooker has recently found it occupying 

 the zone from 9,700 to 11,500 feet on the flanks of Kunchin- 

 jinga, and has kindly furnished me with the following memoran- 

 dum : " Gorkhalee name 1 Gobria-sulla, 1 Bhotiya, 1 Doong- 

 shing.' The most abundant pine of Sikhim. Limits on the 

 south flanks of Kunchinjinga and crests of Inner Sub-Himalaya. 

 10,000 to 12.000 feet: but in the inner valleys and rearward 

 ranges, 9.000 to 13.000. Wood much used for Bhotiya houses : 

 sprigs offered in temples ; and the cones on chayts. Resin white, 

 exuding only on S. and S.E. side of trunk. A beautiful dye of 

 a lovely violet colour is extracted from the young cones. A large 

 fuscous Agaricus grows about the roots — 1 Oonglau ' of the 

 Bhotiyas, who eat it abundantly." 



Of this portion of the Himalaya, Dr. Hooker writes to me, 

 t£ between the upper limit of Pinus longifoha (2.000 feet) and 

 the lower limit of Abies Webbiana (9,700), Sikhim has no pine 



* I take the girth from the letter to M. Humboldt, p. 49S, hut there is 

 apparently an oversight : by a reference to other pages (325, 503, 508), we 

 find the diameter of this tree stated to be 6 feet, and the circumference 20, 

 little exceeding those of the text ; perhaps not at all, as the height of the 

 measurement is not stated : — or two trees may be referred to, for in a MS. 

 of Dr. H.'s in my possession, a tree above Reithal is entered 3-2 feet in girth, 

 and above 200 high. 



