GGO JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



wood is soft and of comparatively little value. Larix Potanini has red 

 wood and is esteemed the most valuable timber tree in Western China. 



As in the Himalayas, so in Western China, Rhododendrons are a special 

 feature. They begin about 5,000 feet, but do not get really abundant until 

 8,000 feet is reached, and extend up to 14,500 feet, the limit of ligneous 

 vegetation. They vary in size from trees fifty feet to alpine plants 

 only a few inches high, and their flowers are of all sizes and colours. 

 Rhododendrons are gregarious plants, and nearly every species has a well- 

 defined altitudinal limit. In June the mountains are one mass of colour, 

 and no finer sight can be imagined than miles and miles of these mountain 

 sides covered with Rhododendrons in flower. There is no Heather in 

 China, its place being taken by dwarf tiny-leafed species of Rhododendron. 

 At 12,000 feet and upward we get amongst alpine meadows with their 

 wealth of herbs. Meconopsis integrifolia occurs in countless numbers, and, 

 with its large clear yellow flowers, presents a sight not easily forgotten. 

 Meconopsis punicea, with large dark scarlet flowers, and M. Henrici, 

 with dark purple flowers, are equally beautiful and abundant. Cypripedium 

 tibeticum, with large dark crimson flowers ; Incarvillea Principis, with 

 bright red flowers ; and Rheum nobile, with its pyramidal towers of pale 

 yellow bracts, form another gorgeous trio. Of Primulas I have collected 

 over forty species in these regions. Primula sikkimensis is one of the 

 commonest, and covers these meadows and marshes like the common 

 Cowslip of our own land. Any attempt to portray this botanical paradise 

 must necessarily fail, but it would be unjust to omit mention of the large 

 areas covered with Senecios, Saussureas, Gentians, Pedicularis, and dwarf 

 Aconites : 16,500 feet is practically the limit of vegetation. A few 

 cushion plants belonging to Crucifercs, Caryophyllacece, and Composite?, 

 with tiny Primulas, Saxifragas, and Meconopsis racemosa var. sinuata, 

 being the last plants to give out. Above this altitude are vast moraines, 

 glaciers, and perpetual snow : 17,500 feet is approximately the snow-line 

 around Tatien-lu. In the grasslands west of here grasses, sedges, and tiny 

 alpines extend above 17,000 feet, and the limit of perpetual snow is not 

 less than 18,000 feet. 



The river valleys of these regions enjoy a much warmer climate than 

 their altitude warrants, and a very anomalous condition of things obtains. 

 In the valley of the Tung River, between 4,000 feet and 5,000 feet, Opuntia 

 Dillenii has become naturalised, and miles and miles of the river-banks 

 are covered with this plant. Associated with the Opuntia is a Mimosa- 

 like Legume simulating the condition of things which obtains in Texas and 

 New Mexico. Indeed, so much does the presence of these plants approxi- 

 mate to what obtains in the above States that if the traveller could be 

 suddenly dropped there he would be unable to tell, from the nature of the 

 flora around him, whether he was in China or in dry arid parts of the 

 Southern United States ! The flora of these river valleys is essentially 

 xerophytic in character. The leaves of the shrubs are either minute or 

 covered with a dense white indumentum. The herbs have tuberous 

 roots tocks or fleshy leaves and stems. Plants like Bcea liygrometrica and 

 species of Selaginella which will stand desiccation are very abundant on 

 rocks. Artemisia is richest in species, whilst the Henbane and Thorn- 

 apple are the commonest roadside weeds. Ceratostigma plumbaginioides 



