206 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Ainsliaeas, Leontopodiums, Anaphalis, Arabis, various Umbellifers, 

 Asters, Dracocephalums, several Saussureas, the most interesting 

 being 5. romuleifolia ; Oxyria sinensis, Lactuca napijera, and a 

 very dwarf form of Androsace spimilifera Fr. In the last the scapes 

 are only 2 to 4 inches in height, whilst the foliage is reduced to 

 extremely spinous scales forming a ball-like rosette. 



However, the bleakness and barren nature of the plain is com- 

 pensated by the prodigality of the mountain. From the base to 

 the limit of vegetation at 17,500 feet, the range in its whole extent 

 of fully fifty miles is one huge natural flower-garden. The extreme 

 height of the range is almost 20,000 feet ; there is therefore about 

 3,000 feet of perpetual snow (fig. 72). % 



From 8,500 to 10,500 feet there is a belt of arborescent vege- 

 tation, rich in trees and shrubs of many of the finer genera, as 

 Tilia, Acer, Primus, Sorbus, Cotoneaster, Philadelphia, Meliosma, 

 Deutzia, Berberis, Lonicera, Euonymus, Buddleia, Hydrangea, Jasminum, 

 Helwingia, Wikstroemia, Leptodermis, Clematis, Lespedeza, Piptan- 

 thus, Bauhinia, Gaultheria, Vaccinium, and many of the lower-level 

 Rhododendrons. 



The conifer belt extends from 10,500 feet to fully 14,000 feet, and 

 runs the full length of the range. At the lowest level it consists chiefly 

 of species of Pinus, the graceful P. Armandi being much in evidence in 

 the most sheltered situations ; and higher, Tsuga yunnanensis, several 

 species of Picea, Abies Delavayi, and Larix tibetica. The last species 

 forms forests many miles in extent on the most northern portion 

 of the range. Up to this line there is a dense growth of interest- 

 ing and beautiful under-shrubs many of them Labiates, whilst in 

 the more open forests and glades some of the finer lower-level 

 herbaceous plants are found, as Incarvillea brevipes and /. lutea, 

 Anemone rupicola and A. demissa, Roscoea cautlioides, Slrobilanthus 

 versicolor, Aconitum Forrestii (fig. 73), A. transsectum, A. brevi- 

 calcaratum, and A. venatorium, Polygonum lichiangense , Cypripedium 

 luteum, C. tibeticum, and C. margaritaceum, Delphinium Delavayi, 

 D. Bulleyanum, and D. yunnanense, Hemerocallis sp. ; and a number 

 of Liliums, including Lilium Thomsonianum, L. giganteum, L, 

 Dalavayi, L. ochraceum. 



Many portions of the eastern flank of the range are weathered 

 away to a series of gigantic graduated cliffs, every ledge a gleaming 

 patchwork of colours, but, alas 1 quite inaccessible. Portions of 

 those, explored at great hazard, yielded such spoil as Primula 

 Forrestii, P. lichiangensis (fig. 74), P. rnfa, and P. kichanensis, 

 Campanula crenulata, and Dracocephalum bullatum. 



On the moister meadows along this belt, and in the shadier 

 openings of the forests, are the homes of such lovely plants as Primula 

 Bulleyana, P. Beesiana (fig. 75), P. Wardii, P. vincaeflora, P. Litton- 

 iana (figs. 76, 77) and P. pulchella. Of Meconopsis are found Meconopsis 

 Delavayi, M. Forrestii, M. concinna, M. venusla, and M. integri- 

 folia. In the most boggy situations, Rheum Alexandrae grows ; and 



