OBSERVATIONS ON HIMALAYAN CONIFERS. 



267 



" has noticed a very general tendency in some species of Pinus 

 and Abies to produce several embryos in a seed ;" both in Ku- 

 maoon and Busehur we frequently meet cedars with several stems 

 from the very base, which may proceed from the same cause. 



Dr. Hoffmeister not unjustly terms the cedar "the crowning 

 glory of the Himalayas and Baron Hiigel (account of Kash- 

 meer) must be added to the list of those who eulogize " the 

 incorruptible Himalayan cedar, the invaluable Deodar." As 

 long ago as 1845, I suggested to the worthy and zealous Editor 

 of the Medical and Literary Journal the propriety of experiments 

 to ascertain if the timber really repels the white ant ; in which 

 case, and if it could be brought to the spot at a cheaper rate 

 than kyanized materials, it would be invaluable in forming the 

 sleepers of our Indian railways : but looking at railway prospects, 

 the cedars are probably not yet planted which will be required 

 on any line above Allahabad.* 



The occurrence of larch in Bhotan and eastern Nepal has 

 been noticed : in the abstract of the Flora of Lower Koonawur, 

 p. 515, Dr. Hoffmeister enters " Larix" " very rare;" but, as 

 if he had afterwards seen reason to doubt its correctness, any 

 such allusion is omitted in the letter to M. Humboldt. Captain 

 A. Gerard, also, Account of Koonawur, pp. 204, 206, men- 

 tions " several larch trees " near Kotgurh, and " a species of 

 larch " on Huttoo ; but none such exists. Since my original 

 notes were drawn up, I have visited Bulsun and Joobul, the 

 States in which Fraser also notices two varieties of the same 

 genus : but diligent observation and enquiry satisfy me that 

 Cedrus deodar a is intended ; the " two varieties " being no 

 other than the ordinary conical (or where compressed, columnar) 

 form, and the somewhat rarer specimens with broad tabular 

 crowns. Below Chansoo, near Sungla, a steep ridge from the 

 Buspa is grown and feathered with enormous trees of this form, 

 which is due to the loss of the leading shoot by storms, and 

 sometimes apparently by birds perching on and wearing it down. 

 Rosenmiiller, quoting Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, says of 

 the cedar of Lebanon, " The oldest cedars are known by the 

 circumstance of the foliage and small branches being found only 

 at the top." This seems to be pointed out by the Hebrew word 

 Tzammereth in Ezekiel, xvii. 3, " the highest branch of the 

 cedar," and xxxv. 3, " his top was among the thick boughs." 

 Loudon too observes, " the summit in young trees is spiry, but 

 in the old trees it becomes broad and flattened." In a lesser 

 degree this is true also of P. longifolia, pinea, and sylvestris, 

 which, as they grow old, lose the lower branches, and acquire 



* Prospects have brightened considerably since this was written. 



