16 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



flowers in the regular way and is either self-polhnated or 

 polHnated by insects. After the flower-parts have fallen the 

 flower stalk lengthens, turns downward and forces the be- 

 ginning fruit into the earth where it ripens. It is easy to 

 make the experiment with the plant for ones self. Unroasted 

 peanuts may be obtained at the nearest peanut stand. Almost 

 any garden soil will do though a sandy loam is best. 



Trees of America and Japan. — We look in vain 

 through the forests of Europe for such familiar forms as the 

 hemlock, the hickories, the tulip tree, the magnolias, the sas- 

 safras, the tupelo gums, the witch hazel, the Kentucky coffee 

 tree, the yellow wood, the locusts, the catalpa and the liqui- 

 dambar. Strange as it may appear, nearly al of these eastern 

 American forms occur nowhere else in the world save in east- 

 ern Asia, in the more temperate parts of China and Japan 

 where the same or very nearly related species are found. 

 What is even still more striking is the contrast between the 

 Atlantic and Pacific sides of North America. Excepting 

 along the mountain crests where the more or less world-wide 

 boreal plants find a congenial environment the vegetation of 

 the California region is related mainly to the dry plateau 

 lands of Mexico and South America. So far as the trees are 

 concerned, a native of the eastern United States wouifcl find 

 himself in more homelike surroundings in the woodlands of 

 temperate China and Japan than on the Pacific slope of his 

 own country. A tulip tree very similar to the one at home, al- 

 most, if not the identical species of sassafras, numeous closely 

 related magnolias, a near relative of the southern yellow 

 wood, the liquidambar, the catalpa the coffee tree the hem- 

 lock and other forms appear as familiar trees in the landscape 

 of China and Japan. This likeness between the two widely 

 separated regions is not confined to the trees alone. The 

 flora at large presents many features in common. The fox 



