COLLECTIONS OF 191 4. 
57 
Androsace sp. (F 143). — 'This is a puzzling problem. Only two 
specimens have I ever seen, growing, the one on a quite, the 
other on a nearly impregnable cliff, high up in a sunny aspect of 
the biggest gorge behind Siku. Here they seemed to be running 
about in dust-dry soil, held together by springy mats of a dried- 
up Selaginella. They suggested small, poor, white-flowered 
Sarmentosas, but really have a more tibetica-habit, but with 
looser masses of larger, more oval-leaved, incanescent, irregular 
rosettes, from which sprang scapes of 4 inches or so, with lax 
heads of white in June. I succeeded at last in securing seven 
seeds, which may perhaps some day help us all to know whether 
this is a distinct Androsace, or merely A. tibetica magnified 
and relaxed by its conditions — which, however, were almost 
precisely those of A. tibetica-type further north, while at its 
feet, in the shingle-slope, another Androsace was growing that 
almost exactly copied A. tibetica — if, indeed, it was anything 
else (F 328). 
Androsace Tapete (F 128). — Has not yet been collected, as it so 
exactly mimics A. helvetica that no one would be thankful for 
yet another wool-dowered miff of the Aretia group. A. Tapete, 
however, grows into far larger masses than A. helvetica, and is 
so closely clad in silver grey as almost to have the argent hoar of 
A. hirtella. It is universal in the high limestones above 12,000 
feet, hugging the sheer precipices and flawed rock-walls exactly 
after the style of A. helvetica. 
Anemone narcissiflora (F 91). — This is a most magnificent Anemone, 
but perhaps a mere development of A. narcissiflora. It is, how 
ever, a far grander plant, forming many-yard-wide masses on the 
open ledges of the bare limestone cliffs at 9,000-11,000 feet, always 
out of reach, and often impregnable, Here, amid colonies of 
soft leaves, it emits 8 inch stems, carrying sometimes only one 
flower (in this case as large as in A. sylvestris), but usually three 
or four. These are of a clear snow-white, shining from afar like 
arrested flakes of snow, all up and down the enormous precipices 
of Thundercrown. It is, as I say, no joke to get at, and it seems 
to have an eccentric way of dropping its carpels green ; in any 
case, despite many efforts, the store of its seed has not proved 
large enough yet to be freely distributed. F 91 I have only 
noted on Thundercrown ; it is purely (and very oddly, for its size 
and lush, soft habit) a high-alpine of the exposed cliffs, ascending 
in wizen form to the topmost crests, but never coming lower than 
some 8,500 feet. Its full glory is from the end of May to the end 
of June. 
Anemone japonica var. (F 436). — It is a fashion nowadays to give 
specific names (such as hupehensis, moupinensis, Sec.) to all these 
local developments of universal A. japonica. For the typical 
form of Kansu-Tibet I will as yet make no such claim. It is 
a tall-growing and very luxuriant plant, with a profuse display 
