SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS OF THE FLORA. 207 



the " Composite Region." In other respects, taking area for area, the South- African 

 flora is as rich and varied as the Australian ; several of the highly-developed orders, as 

 the Proteacese, Restiaceae, and Rutacese, being the same in South-western Africa and 

 Western Australia ; while each exhibits a number of genera specially characteristic 

 of the region. But it would be going beyond our line to pursue these contrasts 

 further here. 



A few words on the distribution of the orders not known to occur within our limits 

 may close this part. 



Distribution of the Natural Orders of Flowering-Plants not known to be represented 



either in Mexico or Central America. 



Following Bentham and Hooker's * Genera Plantarum,' there are 202 natural orders of 

 flowering-plants, and taking the Fumariacese as an order distinct from the Papaveracese, 

 there are 203, of which 162 are represented within the limits of this work. Of the 

 remaining forty-one orders, one, the Leitneriese, is restricted to America north of 

 Mexico, that is to say to Texas and Florida ; three, the Calycereae, Columelliacese, and 

 Rapateacese, are peculiar to South America, and four, the Sarraceniacese, Canellacese, 

 Cyrillacese, and Mayacese, are confined to North and South America and the West 

 Indies. Further, the Humiriacese, with the exception of the West-African monotypic 

 Aubrya, are South-American and West-Indian ; the order Batidese consisting of only 

 one species, and the only order so limited, is tropical American, and is also found in the 

 Sandwich Islands, where, however, it may have been introduced, as it is a littoral shrub ; 

 the Calycanthacese and the Triuridese are Asiatic and American ; and, finally, twelve 

 other orders are more widely spread, including America. Several of the last category 

 offer interesting and curious facts in the present distribution of plants. Thus, of the 

 Restiacese, so numerous in Australia and South Africa, only one species of Leptocarpus 

 inhabits Chili; of the otherwise Australasian, Malayan, and Polynesian Epacridese, 

 the monotypic genus Lebetanthus is endemic in Fuegia ; of the chiefly Australasian 

 Myoporineae there is a monotypic genus {Bontia) in the West Indies ; of the almost 

 exclusively Australasian Centrolepidese, one species of Gaimardia is a native of the 

 extreme south of America ; of the Taccaceee, widely spread in the Old World and 

 Pacific Islands, three very distinct species are peculiar to tropical America ; and of the 

 three genera of the Empetracese, all are found in North America, and one recurs in the 

 Andes, extends to the extreme south of America, and is also common in Tristan da 

 Cunha. Equally interesting particulars of the distribution of the rest of the orders 

 might be given did space permit. In all probability several of the natural orders 

 named exist either in Mexico or in Central America, as vast areas are still compara- 

 tively unexplored. This may be expected, especially of those orders of wide distribution 



