264 



OBSERVATIONS OJf HIMALAYAN CONIFER?. 



(copied in the Arboretum Brit., IV. 2429), two varieties, or 

 perhaps nearly allied species, called Shinlik and Christa Rooroo, 

 are mentioned by Moorcroft as natives of the forests of Ludakh* 

 (if any such there be) : but the inhospitable soil and climate of 

 the Tibetan table-land (where it freezes more or less every 

 night in the year) must form an impassable barrier to the 

 transverse progress of this and other Himalayan Coniferce, ex- 

 cepting, perhaps, Juniperus excelsa : as, on the other hand, it 

 and its continuation forbid the extension to the Himalaya of the 

 larch, spruce, and pines of Siberia and the Altai. A cedar 

 was, indeed, long believed to inhabit Siberia; but Loudon 

 (confirmed by Erman) shows this to be a mistake which 

 originated in the Russian name for Pinus Cembra, " Kedr" 

 being taken for cedar. 



* This proviso is very necessary. I know not what materials Dr. 

 Lindley consulted, but in the expurgated edition of Moorcroft's Travels, 

 published by Professor Wilson, so far from any forest or cedar of any kind 

 being mentioned, I find (I. 267) that "a few willows and poplars are the 

 only trees" in Ludakh. This is confirmed by Mr. Vigne (II. 342). with 

 exception of his " here and there a bunch of fir trees " in the neighbourhood 

 of Le, which, on the authority of Captain H. Strachey, I eliminate as being 

 imaginary. Captain S. assures me that the only trees are the Lombardy 

 and a balsam poplar, willows, brier-bushes, and Hippophae by the rivers : 

 to these must be added Juniperus excelsa, which, however, does not occur 

 within twenty miles of Le, and is called Shookpa. In spite of the dis- 

 crepancy of name, I concluded this to be Moorcroft's cedar, u e., pencil- 

 cedar or juniper, and understood by Dr. L. of the Deodar ; but by com- 

 paring Moorcroft's volumes (I. 287, 289) it is clear that Christa Rooroo is 

 not a cedar at all, but doubtless Hippophae conferta (salicifolia) or some 

 allied species ; " a prickly shrub called Cheerma and Chesta Ruru," grow- 

 ing by streams, and producing a small, round, orange berry, " too acid to 

 be eaten." As Chasta Rooroo is " a variety or perhaps nearly allied 

 species " of the second Ludakh cedar, it follows that the last, " Shinlik," 

 must belong to the same family; probably the " Swijit" or " Sarsing" 

 (properly " Sershing" or gold tree) Elaagnus Moorcroftii, which also grows 

 in Ludakh and Kashmeer, and of which Dr. Royle (in Vigne, II. 456) 

 mentions a Kabul variety " Singilla," which might easily in transcription 

 become " Shinjik." " Chirma" in Tibetan denotes any thorn; properly 

 Tserma. 



The Hippophae forms the most abundant brush-wood of the river-beds in 

 Ludakh, and though so common as to fix the notice of all travellers, has 

 been, nevertheless, the subject of a second series of mistakes on the part of 

 Mr. Vigne. He tells us (II. 360), that at a certain spot in the Nubra 

 valley of Ludakh, " a long belt of jungul, chiefly of the Tartarian furze, 

 occupies the banks of the river:" and in pp. 268, 269, 272, 319, as well as 

 engraved on the map, near Khoppalu, on the Shayuk, the same shrub, ex- 

 plained to be Cytisus Gerardiana or versicolor, is said to occur in thick 

 junguls on the stony and sandy banks of streams in Shighur and other parts 

 of Baltistan. These are exactly the localities where we should expect 

 Hippophae, while their comparatively small elevation would naturally 

 induce a doubt of the presence of Caragana versicolor. But the matter does 

 not rest on inference ; Captain Strachey has visited the Nubra site, and he 

 assures me that the shrub there is Hippophae : and so of course the rest. 



