Page:Provincial geographies of India (Volume 1).djvu/105

] birches. After 12,000 or 12,500 feet it practically disappears. A dwarf shrub, Juniperus rccurva, is found clothing hill-sides a good way above the two trees of the same genus. Other alpine shrubs which may be noticed are two rhododendrons, which grow on cliffs at an elevation of 10,000 to 14,000 feet, R. campanulatum and R. lepidotum, Gaultheria nummularioides with its black-purple berry, and Cassiope fastigiata, all belonging to the order Ericaceae. The herbs include beautiful primulas, saxifrages, and gentians, and in the bellflower order species of Codonopsis and Cyananthus. Among Composites may be mentioned the tansies, Saussureas, and the fine Erigeron multiradiatus common in the forest above Narkanda. In the bleak uplands beyond the Himalaya tree-growth is very scanty, but in favoured localities willows and the pencil cedar, Juniperus pseudosabina, are found. The people depend for fuel largely on a hoary bush of the Chenopod order, Eurotia ceratoides. In places a profusion of the red Tibetan roses, Rosa Webbiana, lightens up the otherwise dreary scene.