56 BOTANICAL MAGAZINE. [Vol. xix. 



And I am led to the conclusion that the Formosan conifers are 

 most similar to the Japanese, next to the North Chinese, and lastly to 

 the Central Chinese. 1 * 



II. On dividing the Chino-Japanese Flora into two Florules : 

 1) Border Florule. 2) Central Florule. 



The relation which Formosa bears to Japan reminds me of that of 

 North America to Japan. 2) Prof. A. Gray states in his " On the Botany 

 of Japan " that the Japanese flora is much more similar to the flora of the 

 East (of the continent) than that of the West in spite of the geographical 

 proximity. Now what the Japanese is to the East of North America, is 

 the flora of Formosa to that of North China. 



We have seen in the foregoing tables that Japan, Formosa, Central 

 and North China are closely related with each other. It seems quite 

 proper to unite these four floras into a large one of Chino-Japanese Flora, 

 in agreement with other botanists. 31 And it is equally proper, generalizing 



the above statistics, to divide the Flora into two florules one including 



North China, Japan, and Formosa, which I should propose to call Border 

 Florule, the other including South and Central China, let me call it 

 Central Florule. 



If we connect those groups of the closely related regions we get two 

 lines which meet at North China, (one is from Formosa to North China 

 through Japan, the other from India to North China through Central 

 China). The point at which the lines meet is worthy of notice. The 

 birder line, by which I mean the line designating the Border Florule, is 

 a sort of a geometrical locus of points which satisfy all the conditions 

 which the Border Florule demand?. The central line indicating the 

 Central Florule is also a locus of points which have all the characteristics 

 of the Central Florule. North China, the meeting point of these two loci, 

 then, may be said to satisfy all the conditions which both florules demand, 



1) Owing to the limit of my knowledge of Central Chinese conifers, obtained mainly 

 through books (except those small set I mentioned before) I might be open to the censure 

 of having identified Formosan conifers too much in favour of Japanese species with which 

 I am thoroughly aquainted. But, were this true, the general validity of my conclusion is 

 scarcely affected, for my knowledge of North Chinese conifers is equally limited, and 

 admits of no partial treatment against Central Chinese. 



2) Gray, A. :— Mem. America, Acud. Art. Sci. Vol. VI. p. 437. 



3) Grisebach, A.:— Die Vegetation der Erde, Vol. I. p. 46o. 



Engler, A. :— Engler u. Prantl, Die Naturlichen Pnanzenfamilien, 11. Teil, 1, p. 58. 



