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CLIMATE AND VEGETATION OF THE HIMALAYAS. 
WWW 
Ilubia, Vernonia, Ageratum, Eupatorium, Conyza, Blumea, Diospyros, Rivea, Argyreia, and Convol¬ 
vulus, Cordia, Tournefortia, &c. Of smaller shrubs, Acanthaceae, are far the most numerous, thenFici, 
Euphorbiacese, Lauri, Moesua, Embeha and Boehmeria, Celtis, and various Desmodia, Hedysara, and 
other Leguminosae. At this season, Monocotyledons are scarce : a few Calami and other Palms, large 
grasses, and more Cyperaceae, Scitamineae, and Curculigo, with parasitical Orchideae, are the pre¬ 
valent tribes. Among the herbaceous vegetation Cucurbitaceae are especially numerous, Acanthaceae, 
some Labiatae, Balsamineae, Asclepiadeae, Apocyneae, and Urticeae. Along the cut roadside the Doctor 
gathered two Hydrocotyles, Piddingtonia, (which is surely not distinct from Pratia), Oxalis, Mollugo, 
Polygona, Compositae, Impatiens, Desmochaeton, Ageratum, Adenostemma, Bidens, Wedelia, and other 
such tropical weeds. Twenty or thirty species of Ferns were luxuriant and handsome. Foliaceous 
Lichens and a few Mosses appeared at 2000 feet. 
A little below this a great change takes place in the vegetation, distinguished first by the appear¬ 
ance of a very English-looking Bramble; which, however, by way of proving its foreign origin, bore 
a yellow fruit. Scattered Oaks of a noble species, with large lamellated cups, and magnificent foliage 
succeeded, and along the ridge of the mountain the change in the flora was complete. Here (about 
4000 ft.) our traveller entered the early spring flora of the middle region of the Himalaya, extending to 
the Alpine at 10,000 feet. His direction thence was northward, on a forest clad shoulder of the moun¬ 
tain rising 4000 feet higher in front. All the tropical and Indian vegetation was left below, and 
now succeeded that which marked the temperate and the Arctic Circle, deep and narrow gullies 
being the “ thin partitions” that divided them. Dr. Hooker was here most forcibly reminded of an 
English spring. He had left the winter of the tropic; and here he saw the Oak flowering, and the 
Birch leafing ; the Violet, Chrysosplenimn, Stellaria and Arum, Vaccinia, the Wild Strawberry, Maple, 
and Mimulus, Geranium and Bramble ; the roadsides and hedges carpetted with Mosses and Lichens. 
Along this range our author met with the first Fern tree ; and he says :—“ This most beautiful object 
delighted me, whether because it was an old friend, or from its extreme beauty and grace ; the latter, I ex¬ 
pect ; for I had already seen so many Tree-Ferns, and in so many parts of the glohe, the Atlantic Islands 
and shores, the Cape, America, Australia, and New Zealand, that if any one’s appetite for so attractive an 
object could be palled, it should be mine. This species, as all others known to me, is far inferior to the 
Tasmanian in appearance; it seldom reaches more than forty or fifty feet,—the trunk is but three 
or foui’, instead of twelve or fourteen in girth, of a dark blackish, instead of a rich ochreous brown tint, 
and the feathery coma is ragged in comparison. I presume it to be nearly allied to Alsophila gigantea 
( Wall) : it never occurs much below 4000 feet that I have seen, and ascends to nearly 7000.” 
From Kursiong the mountain is ascended through a magnificent forest of Chestnut, Walnut, Oaks, 
and Laurels. It would be difficult to conceive a grander mass of vegetation:—the straight shafts of the 
timber trees shooting aloft, some naked and clean, with grey, pale, or brown barks; others literally 
clothed for yards with a continuous garment of epiphytes, with all kinds of foliage, and one 
mass of blossoms, especially the white Coelogynes, which bloom in a profuse manner, and literally 
powder the trunks with snow. More bulky (to appearance) trunks were masses of interlacing 
climbers—Araliacese, Leguminosae, Vitis, and Menispermum, Hydrangea, and Peppers—their once 
supporting tree having decayed away. From the sides and summit of these, supple branches hang 
forth, either leafy or naked; the latter resembling cables flung from one to other trees, swinging in 
the breeze, their rocking motion increased by the weight of great bunches of Ferns or Orchidaceae, 
perched aloft in the loops. Perpetual moisture nourishes this dripping forest; and here pendulous 
Mosses (Hypna and Neckera) and Lichens (Borrera and Usnea) are first met with, and in incon¬ 
ceivable profusion. 
Pacheem, at an elevation of 8000 feet, is fertile in subalpine plants. Piddingtonia, Clnysos- 
plenium, Viola (of a different species from that at Kursiong), Lobelia, a small Geranium, Fragaria, 
little Polygona, five or six Rubi, Arum, Paris, a delicate little Isopyrum, Convallaria, Uvularia, 
Disporum, Carex, Creeping Urticeae, and succulent great ones too, Arenaria (or Stellaria), Ainsliea, 
Rubia, Vaccinium, and various Gnaphalia. Of small bushes, Corneae, Caprifoliaceae, and Araliaceae 
predominated, with Symplocos and Limonia, Eurya, bushy Rubi, having simple or compound green 
or beautifully silky foliage, Hypericum, Hydrangea, Berberis, Lonicera, Artemisia, Urtica, Adarnia 
cyanea, Viburnum, Sambucus, dwarf Bamboo, &c. 
The climbing plants were still Panax or Aralia, Kadsura, Saurauja, Hydrangea, Vitis, jSmilax, 
Ampelopsis, Polygona, and, most beautiful of all, Stauntonia, with pendulous racemes of lilac blossoms. 
Epiphytes were rarer, still Dr. Hooker found Ccelogyne, and several other genera of Orchideae, 
Vaccinia, and a most noble white Rhododendron, whose truly enormous and delicious lemon-scented 
blossoms strewed the ground. The trees were one-half Oaks, one-quarter Magnolia?, nearly another 
