33 2 Prain. — A Reviezv of the genera 
The species of Meconopsis , with the exception of the forms from 
California which are annuals, have generally been described as perennials. 
It is not impossible that under natural oecological conditions a fair propor- 
tion of them may be so ; in cultivation, however, few of them are. Though 
none except the Californian forms are truly annual, most of them are 
monocarpic. In order to supplement his own knowledge and experience, 
the writer has consulted various friends who have had species of Meconopsis 
in cultivation, and is indebted for much of the information given below to 
Professor Bayley Balfour of Edinburgh, Mr. M. L. de Vilrmoin of Paris, 
Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons of Coombe Wood, and Mr. W. Irving of the 
Herbaceous Department at Kew. The evidence from herbarium material 
is rarely conclusive as regards species that have not yet been introduced to 
horticulture, and the only two as to which dried specimens appear to afford 
definite proof of a perennial habit are M. chelidonifolia and M. Oliverianct . 
In discussing the species seriatim it will be most convenient if they are 
dealt with group by group. 
Cambricae. A single species, M. cambrica. Grows freely in most English 
gardens ; is always perennial ; as a rule self-sown seedlings appear in quantity. 
Anomalae. Two forms, possibly not distinct species, M. crass if olia and 
M. heterophylla. Always hardy annuals, ripening seed readily in England. 
Aculeatae. Two species of this group, M. sinuaia and M. rudis are not 
yet known in cultivation ; this is also true of M. horridula . Of the remaining forms 
M. aculeata is very familiar. At Kew, plants of this species flower in about a year 
from time of germination, occasionally they take two years. They lose their crown 
of leaves during the winter months. Usually this species lasts only one year, dying 
after flowering ; at Kew, however, there has been one instance of a plant flowering 
two years in succession. At Edinburgh, though usually monocarpic, it is not always 
so, and Professor Balfour reports that several plants of this species have gone through 
three years of flowering. Self-sown seedlings frequently appear in the vicinity of the 
spot where a plant of M. aculeata has flowered. The other form of this group 
known in gardens is M. racemosa, Maxim. This is a biennial, flowering in a year 
from seed. It grows well and ripens seed freely. It is somewhat significant 
that this, which the writer takes to be only a condition, or at most a variety of 
M. horridula , should be well known, while true M. horridula is not known in 
cultivation. In the higher valleys of Sikkim, which the species, whereof both 
M. horridula and M. racemosa appear to be states, invades by crossing the inner 
passes, this is plentiful; it does not, however, appear to occur below 14,000 feet 
or to the south of the outer passes and of the line of snowy peaks like Kinchinjanga, 
Chumiamo and Kinchinjhao, that mark the main axis of the Himalaya in this region. 
Below 14,000 feet and to the south of these peaks the species is sparingly replaced 
by M. sinuaia , apparently a distinct though nearly related species which is represented 
at corresponding altitudes in the western Himalaya by M. aculeata , and in alpine 
Yunnan and Szechuen by M. rudis . To the north of these snowy peaks, and 
on the inner passes such as the Kongra-lama and the Tang-la, the form usually 
