324 
THE ALPINE AND SVB-ALPINE VEGETATION 
cultivator, the valley being very wild and the slopes steep. The road 
has been cut with considerable difficulty, here and there overhanging deep 
precipices. Didymocarpi frequent these rocky cuttings. Didymocarpm, 
as has been pointed out by Ridley in connection with the Malayan Flora, 
is very restricted in its specific distribution. The Sikkim species are 
no exception to the rule and the Burmese species seem similarly restric- 
ted. The same is true of the closely allied genus Chirita. Near 
Karponang I picked a branch from a shrub which at the time I took to 
be Leycesteria glaucopkylla, but subsequent comparison in the herbarium 
showed it to be a new species allied to the Chinese Leycesteria sinensis, 
I have named it Leycesteria Belliana in honour of Mr. C. A. Bell, the 
Political Officer of Sikkim, who has made botanical collections in the 
Chumbi Valley. I was in hopes that the native collectors would secure 
the plant later in seed but on returning in October they were unable to 
find the shrub again. No doubt it had shed its leaves and was difficult 
to distinguish. Only four other species of this genus are known and 
the plant would be an interesting addition to the gardens of Europe. 
The roadside yielded another new species in Swertia ramosa. 
The next day was spent in the vicinity of Karponang exploring the 
ridges above the bungalow and also the steep slopes below which lead 
to the Roro Chu. On the 5th we proceeded to Changu, a further 
rise of 3,000 feet. For the first five miles to Laghep the road is fairly 
level running through the narrowing valley, but high above the stream. 
The vegetation up to 10,000 feet was somewhat backward but above that 
a fine blaze of colour greeted us. The plants of alpine Sikkim make 
the most of their short flowering season. Above Laghep the ground 
rapidly rises to the lake of Changu which is near 12,000 feet elevation. 
In fine flower were Cathcartia villosa^ Meconopsisy TrolliuSy Anemone, 
Primula sikkimensisy Primula reticulata. Primula geranii/oliay a plant 
hitherto known only from the Chumbi Valley, is not uncommon by the 
reeky slopes and more occasional is its near ally, the rare Primula 
vaginata. Also noteworthy were the scarce Cathcartia lyrata, the 
peculiar Parnassia tenella near the ruined Laghep bungalow and 
Poscoea alpina the rarer of the tw6 Sikkim species and usually a plant 
of the drier ranges. The forest is here comparatively open but that may 
be due in great part to the cutting of firewood for the camp during the 
transit of gangs of coolies in 1903-04. 
Changn and Laghep. 
Changu lake is a fairly large one for Sikkim, being quite half a mile 
long, but like all the Sikkim lakes is almost destitute of plant life. 
