The _Pandanus_ alone forms a conspicuous feature in the immediate
vicinity of Churra; while the small woods about Mamloo, Moosmai, and
the coal-pits, are composed of _Symplocos,_ laurels, brambles, and
jasmines, mixed with small oaks and _Photinia,_ and many tropical
genera of trees and shrubs.

_Orchideae_ are, perhaps, the largest natural order in the Khasia,
where fully 250 kinds grow, chiefly on trees and rocks, but many are
terrestrial, inhabiting damp woods and grassy slopes. I doubt whether
in any other part of the globe the species of orchids outnumber those
of any other natural order, or form so large a proportion of the
flora. Balsams are next in relative abundance (about twenty-five),
both tropical and temperate kinds, of great beauty and variety in
colour, form, and size of blossom. Palms amount to fourteen, of which
the _Chamaerops_ and _Arenga_ are the only genera not found in
Sikkim. Of bamboos there are also fifteen, and of other grasses 150,
which is an immense proportion, considering that the Indian flora
(including those of Ceylon, Kashmir, and all the Himalaya), hardly
contains 400. _Scitamineae_ also are abundant, and extremely
beautiful; we collected thirty-seven kinds.

No rhododendron grows at Churra, but several species occur a little
further north: there is but one pine (_P. Khasiana_) besides the yew,
(and two _Podocarpi_), and that is only found in the drier interior
regions. Singular to say, it is a species not seen in the Himalaya or
elsewhere, but very nearly allied to _Pinua longifolia,_*
[Cone-bearing pines with long leaves, like the common Scotch fir, are
found in Asia, and as far south as the Equator (in Borneo) and also
inhabit Arracan, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and South China. It is