352 



Report on the T'ca Plant of Upper Assam. 



[Oct. 



We learn from Dr. Abel, whose account was written from memory, that 

 in lat. 30° 13' N., where the Tea plant was first seen, that a few species 

 of oak and some dwarf chesnuts were found. Nothochloena piloselloi- 

 des, a fern widely distributed over some part of India, was likewise 

 proved to exist. On a subsequent occasion, when the Tea plant was 

 found apparently wild and near no plantation, a Euphorbiaceous plant, 

 Eloeococcus of Commerson, was seen growing with it. Dr. Abel informs 

 us that, " the Pinus Massoniana of Mr. Lambert still continued to be 

 the most general species of fir, but was occasionally mingled with the 

 Pinus Lanceolata of the same author." A species of Eugenia is like- 

 wise mentioned as covering " the declivities of almost every hill in the 

 province of Kiang see." If we now consider the plant actually men- 

 tioned by Abel as occurring close to the Tea, we shall find that they arc 

 reducible to several species of oak, among which are Quercus Densifo- 

 lia and Quercus Sinensis. 

 Some Dwarf Chesnuts. 



Eloeococcus Vemicia (Dryandra cordate of Abel's Journal). 

 Pinus Massoniana. 

 Pinus Lanceolata.* 



Mr. Ellis mentions it as being found associated with a new species of 

 oak, and the Laurus Camphora at the foot of the Leeshan mountain. 



In addition to these that were actually observed, we may infer that it 

 is associated with Camellia oleifera, Stillingia sebifera, Nothochloena 

 piloselloides and Eugenia microphylla.f 



The relative value of the above plants as indications of a cold climate 

 varies very considerably. I shall consider those now which are peculiar 

 to China, leaving the notice of those which have representatives in 

 Assam, until I come to the comparison between the floras of the two 

 countries at about similar latitudes. 



Eloeococcus Vernicia is a Japan plant, but there is another species 

 which is a native of China and Cochin China. As I find that no other 

 habitat is given to the first species than that of Japan, although the 

 works I have consulted are of a later date than the Journal of Abel, I 

 conclude that the latter species was mistaken for the former. The order 

 Euphorbiaceoe to which this plant belongs, has almost every variety of 

 geographical distribution ;t but as in the Western world it is decidedly 



* Journal of the proceedings of the late Embassy to China, &c. by H, Ellis, vol. 

 ii. p. 76. 



t There is a curious mistake in Abel's Journal concerning the etymology of this 

 species. 



t See Lindley's Introduction to the Natural System, Ed. 2, p. 113. 



