CLIMATE AND VEGETATION OF THE HIMALAYAS. 
forest covers the whole summit, hoary with pendulous Lichens and Mosses; and its main feature con¬ 
sists in the groves of the large silvery-leaved white Rhododendron, and the purple-flowered Magnolia. 
A new species of Balanophora (B. cyathoides, MS.), with the leaves forming a cup-shaped involucre, 
or sheath, half-way up the flowering stem, grows at an elevation of 8-9,000 feet; it is monoecious, and 
flowers in May and June. B. dioica, Wall., grows above Darjeeling (alt. 7,500 feet), and flowers in 
July and August. Two other species, B. typhina, Wall., and B. polyandra, Griff., inhabit lower levels, 
and flower in September. 
A narrow path winds to the double summit of Sinchul, passing through w'oods, and among a greater 
proportion of Cornene, Hydrangea, and Ilex, mixed with Rhododendrons, and three species of 
Magnolia. Ferns are very luxuriant, Hymenophyllese on the trees, Marattia and Sphseropteris and 
many Aspidia and Davalliae on the ground. The commonest Aspidium is caulescent. Several kinds 
of Celastrus are very frequent under-shrubs, but none in greater profusion than a new species of the 
Japan genus Helwingia. 
The profusion of Arums in this region is quite remarkable. They are noble plants, and will, it is 
hoped, reach Kew in safety. The most abundant on Sinchul (A. speciosum) is triphyllous, and like 
Wallich’s A. speciosum. Paris is another English spring genus now in flower, and very plentiful at 
this elevation (7-2,000 feet). Falconer says it is the P. polyphylla; it is a grand thing, the stems 
three feet high, a whorl of seven or ten leaves, with three to five sepals, as many petals, three to eleven 
stamens, and two to six carpels. Dr. Hooker counted the number of parts in some thirty specimens, 
for Professor Henslow, whose ingenious theory of the formation of the flower of P. quadrifolia will 
find confirmation in the irregularities of this. Disporum and Convallaria are both abundant, and the 
latter very beautiful, for it bears an immense raceme of white flowers, similar to those of Muscari, but 
as large as the C. majalis; the raceme is often a foot long. Another species is Wallich’s C. oppositifolia. 
The leaves of an Ophiopogon were very abundant, as of various Begonias, Didymocarpese, but none in 
flower. Mr. Edgeworth’s genus, Streptolirion, grows in amazing profusion a hundred yards above 
Darjeeling, to which station it hardly descends. 
Three species of Carex occur on Sinchul, but no grass. The mountain is also above the region of 
Cucurbitaceee, which ascend to 7,500 feet, but not of Smilax, and some other sub-tropical genera. 
Ficus and Pepper both reach the base of the ridge, 7,500 feet, but are not found higher. By the little 
streams, Viola, Lobelia, Chrysosplenium, and Mimulus, form verdant masses with chickweed. Five 
species of Rubus ascend to the summit: amongst them is a creeping white-flowered one, bearing large 
scarlet fruit. Lardizabala is common, and a small Amp el op sis, and a tufted Vaccinium. Dr. Hooker 
did not observe a single Labiate, or Leguminose, and scarcely a Composite plant, except Ainsliea, one 
species of which flowers in spring, the other in autumn. Urticese were very numerous and succulent. 
Some small trees of Styrax ? bear a profusion of white flowers, which lie like snow on the ground 
underneath: there are two species about Darjeeling. But of all things found here, the most remark¬ 
able objects are the vivid red outer sepals and petals of the Magnolia. This magnificent tree is 
leafless during the flowering season (April), presenting only a few irregular branches from a trunk 
sixty to eighty feet in height, covered with a whitish bark. The flowers (resembling those of the 
Lotus) are terminal, oddly inserted, and, as well as their peduncles, brittle, and therefore easily 
damaged by the wind. At this height the common white-flowered Michelia is not so abundant as lower 
down, at 7,000 feet; where its frequency causes the trees, during its blossoming time, to look as if 
snowed upon. Like our Hawthorn, &c., it does not bloom with equal profusion every year. 
The Rhododendron argenteum abounds on this ridge. It is inferior in size to the Oaks, Magnolias, 
Ilex, Pruni, and Pyri of the region, but individually it is far more abundant. As is the case with 
most of the genus, it branches from the root: in this species the branches are as thick as the human 
body, or nearly so, covered with a pale pinkish papery bark, twenty to forty feet high, inclined, 
compressed, sparingly divided towards the apex : the ramuli, also, are few, and leafy only at the apices. 
Fungi are immensely numerous in the moist woods, especially the Hymenomycetes. Three or four 
smaller species of Lycoperdon are common ; but the Bovistirue, as a tribe, want more sunny pastures. 
Agaricus campestris rarely appears, and only in the artificially grassed paddocks near the residents’ 
dwellings is it abundant. Mucedinete are amazingly intrusive in the valley of Nepal and on the 
plains. Hitherto Dr. Hooker had met with only a single underground Fungus, this tribe probably 
preferring the drier and the warmer woods to these excessively humid ones. Some of the Agarics 
here assume anomalous, very beautiful, and apparently normal forms. 
As in most tropical and sub tropical countries, the Hymenomycetes here are far the richest, tribe 
in species and individuals, excepting possibly the Coniomycetes and Hyphomycetes, which seem to be 
neglected, of necessity, by even those travelling naturalists who can devote any time to the observation 
to 
