INTRODUCTION 
xliii 
Pinus excelsa is also a very common species at Simla, par 
ticularly on the southern face of Mount Jako, which is the highest 
part of the ridge. Abies Smithiana \Picea Morinda ], the third 
coniferous tree, is exceedingly rare, a few trees only occurring in 
a shady ravine facing the west ; while the deodar, the fourth 
species, is common on the southern and western slopes of Jako, 
above 7,000 feet ; and again in shady groves at the bottom of the 
valleys on both sides of the ridge, as low as 5,000 feet. This 
beautiful tree, the cedar of the Indian mountains, seems limited 
to the western half of the Himalayan range, extending from the 
most westerly part of Nipal, as far as the mountains of Afghani- 
stan. 
The forest extends in parts close up to the peak of Jako, which 
has an elevation of 8,053 feet. The very summit, however, which 
is a short flat ridge, and a considerable part of the east and south 
face are bare [of trees] and grassy, or covered with scattered 
shrubs. The more common shrubby forms of the vegetation of 
the temperate zone are Salix, Posa , Pubus, Lonicera, Viburnum , 
Berberis, Indigofera, and Prinsepia, all, except the two last, quite 
European. Indigofera forms a remarkable exception, and one 
well worthy of note, as the genus is a very tropical one, although 
its shrubby species are particularly abundant throughout the whole 
of the Western Himalaya. 
The herbaceous vegetation of the spring months quite corre- 
sponds, in the temperate nature of its forms, with what has been 
found to be the case with the trees and shrubs ; but during the 
rainy season, as has been well pointed out by Dr. Hoyle in his 
valuable essay on the distribution of Himalayan plants, this is 
much less markedly the case. At the commencement of spring, 
in April — for March is still too cold for much vegetation — the 
weather being generally bright, though with occasional heavy 
showers, the earliest flowers are species of Viola, Fragaria, 
Geranium, Veronica, Valeriana, and dandelion. From April, as 
summer advances, the temperature gradually rises, till towards 
the end of June, when the rainy season commences. These 
months are generally dry, and if no rain falls the heat is some- 
times considerable, the thermometer rising as high as 80° in the 
shade. Still the flora is almost entirely temperate, the early 
spring plants being succeeded by many others of European 
families, principally Ranunculacece, Posacece, Labiatce, Stellatce, 
Polygonacece, Epilobiacece, Primulacece, &c. I can hardly 
enumerate a single spring flowering plant which does not belong 
to an European family. Few species are, however, identical with 
those of Europe, except Stellaria media , Cerastium vulgatum, 
