Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/233

 The dry beds of the mountain torrents nearer the borders of the range were fringed with the yellow honeysuckle, wild peach, hawthorn (Cratagus sanguinea), and barberry (Berberis sp.). A climbing clematis might now and again be seen crowning the top of a bush with a garland of yellow flowers, and the open meadows were thickly covered with motherwort (Iconurus Sibiricus), and two varieties of wild onion (Allium odorum, A. anisopodium). The variety of herbaceous plants exceeds that of either trees or bushes. Here, as in Europe, the woods are adorned with the lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis), the Smilacina (Maianthemum bifolium), and anemone (Anemone sylvestris, A. barbulata); the familiar stone-bramble (Rubus saxatilis) and wild strawberry (Fragaria sp.) are also not uncommon; close beside them blossomed the spear-leaved Cacalia (Cacalia hastata), echinospermum (Echinospermum sp.), several kinds of peas (Vicia), Polygonatum officinale, Phlomis umbrosa, Agrimonia sp.; the spleenwort (Asplenium sp.), thickly covered patches of the forest ground.

In the woodland glades grow peonies (Pæonia albiflora), the yellow Hemerocallis and red lily Lilium tenuifolum, geraniums (Geranium sp.), the rose-bay willow herb (Epilobium angustifolium), &c. Valerians (Valeriana officinalis), and wild tansey or silver weed (Potentilla anserina).

In the swampy places and round the mountain springs, the herbaceous plants are still more varied. Here may be seen in profusion the Ligularia, the