Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/262

 places further removed from the River small marshes and lakes are formed. On the flooded meadow land the following flora appears: Odontites rubra, Aster Tataricus, Panicum Mandshuricum, Calystegia acetosafolia, Echinops Turczaninovii, Sonchus brachyotis, Statice aurea, Sophora flavescens, Cynanchum acutum, Vincetoxicum Sibiricum, Vincetoxium sp.; varieties of Ranunculus, Tanacetum, Oxytropis, Plantago, Stachys, Spergularia, Adenophora, &c. It may be seen from the above list that parts of these meadows closely resemble our fields in Europe. Nearer the River grow the thick wormwood (Artemisia sp.), lyme-grass (Elymus sp.), and willow (Salix sp.), which further westward completely covers large areas. The marshes and their borders are thickly overgrown with reeds (Phragmites communis); in the uncovered spots appear the water plantain (Alisma Plantago), the water asparagus (Hippuris vulgaris some kinds of Scirpus, Elæocharis, Cyperus, Juncus, Utricularia, Cicuta, Butomus, Monochoria, Pediciclaris, Lactuca.

The sands of Kuzupchi do not come quite close up to this part of the valley of the Hoang-ho, but are separated from it by a border of sand mixed with clay which terminates in a precipitous bank, 50 feet and in some places 100 feet high, in all probability once forming the river shore.

This border is covered with small mounds (seven to ten feet high), mostly overgrown with wormwood (Artemisia campestris) and Siberian pea-tree (Caragana sp.). Here we found one of the