REPORT OF WORK IN 1915 IN KANSU AND TIBET. 339 
two such remote distribution-centres for M. Prattii there should 
intervene the Kweite- Koko-nor region, given over exclusively to the 
possession of typical M. racemosa — and without doubt the district 
responsible for the original specimens, by false tradition (though not 
by the actual labels) attributed to the neighbourhood of Chebson 
Abbey in the flanks of the Da-Tung. (Painting and photograph.) 
M. quintuplinervia (F 118).' — I had thought I knew the Harebell 
Poppy from last year's experience. Now I realize that in the Min 
S'an and Satanee ranges it is a mere outlier, comparatively poor ; 
while in the Da-Tung it has its very focus of distribution, abounding 
incredibly from 10,000 feet upwards, first in the cool mossy folds of 
the fells, amid scant scrub, and then right over all the face of the 
alps, in such profusion that never have I anywhere seen a picture of 
comparable glory. It is a very stable species, but I got two beautiful 
albinos, and several forms of almost turquoise blue ; none of these 
survived the journey, but their occurrence yields hope that similar 
beauties may appear from seed — of which that of the Da-Tung con- 
trasts favourably with the first year's lot, in that it is germinating 
like cress, whereas that of 1914 proved most recalcitrant and un- 
certain. Of all the Meconopsids I know, I give the crown for well- 
bred perfection of loveliness and serene charm to the Harebell Poppy, 
with a faint reservation in favour of the Dainty Poppy. But M. 
lepida (F 123) is only monocarpic, and I cannot yet hear that a single 
one of the painfully few seeds I was able to get has hitherto revisited 
the light of day. (Painting and photograph.) 
Meconopsis sp. (F 735) is the problem I spoke of. It is certainly 
close to M. Prattii and M. racemosa, but its huge pods with black- 
warted retrorse spines and big seeds to match, no less than the whole 
habit of its seedlings, arouse suspicion that nothing less than a new 
species may here be lurking. In one fold only of the grassy alps was 
this found, and its azure flowers aroused no special emotion in Purdom, 
who had the luck to happen on it ; it was only later that its seed- 
vessels caught his attention as he returned that way in autumn. 
Nothing, otherwise, is known about the plant ; its fuller history shall 
be unfolded when it proves to deserve one. 
M. racemosa (F 736) (F 691 is the list number of the undoubtedly 
genuine M. racemosa). — This is quite uncertain, and may very possibly 
prove only M. Prattii. As I have said, I have no record whatever, 
and believe no record, of M. racemosa in the Da-Tung Alps. There- 
fore the provenance of this seed almost certainly gives the lie to any 
notion that it can be M. racemosa. Nor do I remember that Purdom 
was able to get any ripe seed of the genuine M. racemosa, deep azure 
and golden-anthered, from the ranges of Kweite and Koko-nor, where 
it replaces M. Prattii. Therefore, in this uncertainty, judgment must 
be suspended on this lot of seedlings until they have a little further 
unfolded themselves from obscurity. (Photograph of the true species 
from the Kweite Alps.) 
Oxytropis spp. 529, 540, 543. — Here again there has been a con- 
fusion between three species, all of which have been sent. One, from 
