3o8 the botany of the KACHIN HILLS NORTH-EAST OF MYITKYINA, 
There is a very appreciable endemic element in the Kachin Flora ; 
the collections of the first year of exploration contain 53 apparently 
endemic forms out of a total of 637, making about one-twelfth, or 
8*45 per cent., of the whole. Of the remaining eleven-twelfths, 31 
species, making only 4*94 %, or about one-nineteenth part ot the 
whole flora, are purely eastern in distribution ; occurring, that is to 
say, in China, in the Indo-Chinese area east of -the Irrawaday, or in 
Malaya, without extending westward and southward along the Asaam- 
Arracan ranges. Of these 31 plants^ as many as 21 extend only, so 
far as is known, to the Shan Plateau. Nor do those plants hat, 
while they extend both eastwaraa and westwards from the K hin 
country are more widely spread to the east than they are to the 
west of these hills, bulk very largely ; of such, the list contains but 
51, again about one-twelfth or 8*13 per cent., of the whole flora» 
Even if w'e add these to the purely eastern species, we only obtain a 
total of 82, making 13*07 per cent, or something like one-eighth of the 
whole flora, wherein eastern influences may be said to predominate. 
The western and eastern influences are counterbalanced in 184 
species, or nearly one-third (29*34 per cent.) of the flora as re- 
presented by our list ; of these as many as 100, or 15*78 per cenu, 
(one* sixth of the flora) occur in every part of south-eastvern Asia, 
the majority being cosmopolitan tropical or sub-tropical plants. 
The element wherein western influences predominate mucii ex- 
ceeds that which indicates eastern affinities, ana, indeed, considerably 
exceeds that where the two influences are balanced. There are 
135 species, nearly one-fifth (more eAd.ctiy 31*53 per cent.) of th« 
flora that extend westward only, while as many as 173, about one- 
fourth (more exactly 27*59 per cent) of -the whole, are more wide- 
spread to the west than to the east of the Kachin country. If these 
two gioups of species be added, we have a total of 308, nearly one- 
half (more exactly 47*54 per cent) of the flora wherein western in- 
fluences predominate. The total number of species that occur in 
Assam, the Himalayas, or India, is 543, as against 439 that occur in 
China, Eastern Indo-China, or Malaya. 
When the distribution in particular sub-sub-areas is considerec 
we find that more light is thrown on the precise affinities of the 
Kachin flora. Though Kachin is situated close to China, its flora is 
obviously not very closely allied to the Chinese flora. Only 195 
Kachin species, 31 10 per cent., or rather less than a third of the 
floral ocsiur in China at all, and there are, in the whole list, but three 
species, Wistaria ckinensis, Rhododendron indicum and Rauwolfia 
