14 OhservafioRS on fJie Flora of tJie Western States. [January, 



the limits of the growth of trees, is distiuguished by the absence of arbor- 

 escent plants. Such is also the flora of the summits of the "White 

 Mountains, in New Hampshire. The LinncBan region lies next south 

 of Wahlenberg's in the old world, reaching to the Pyrenees and the 

 Alps. Forests of deciduous trees, and firs, mark this region, together 

 with luxuriant meadows and broad heaths. This forest is also graced 

 by Linnaeus' own lovely name-sake, the LiniKEa Borealis. A third 

 region, occupying the basin of the Mediterranean, with southern Europe, 

 extending from the Alps to the Atlas, is called, in honor of the great 

 Genevian botanist, De Candolle's region. This is distinguished by the 

 fair Liliaceous plants and the Aromatic Labiatas. 



Corresponding to these two plant-regions in the east, North America 

 has two lying beyond the tropics. That of Michaux embraces the 

 basin of the great lakes, with Canada, New England, the Middle States, 

 and those of the Northwest, while Purshes' region includes the Southern 

 States. The former we may briefly characterize as the land of the 

 Asters and Goldcnrods; the latter, of the Magnolias. But to us it is 

 obvious that the limits of these two regions do not everywhere meet. 

 Blended in one on the Atlantic coast, they separate and diverge as they 

 extend eastward, leaving the magnificent valleys of the Ohio, the upper 

 Mississippi, and the Missouri, between them, to constitute a new region, 

 which in all justice must be assigned to that pioneer botanist, Nuttall. 

 This splendid region may well be characterized as the realm of the 

 Phlox and Liriodendron. But we propose to notice the peculiarities of 

 this region more especially. 



This great Western valley is truly a glorious land ; but its glory does 

 not consist in wild mountain scenery, nor in burning volcanoes. Here 

 are no frowning mountain-passes, no headlong torrents, no echoing, rock- 

 bound lakes. All these grand and sublime features of Alpine scenery, 

 which are admired in primitive countries as exponents of the handiwork 

 of the Almighty Creator, are wanting in the great valleys of the West. 

 Indeed, the peculiar grandeur of these lands consists in the fact of their 

 being destitute of such features, and in the development of characters 

 directly the opposite. 



In New England the traveler meets here and there a level spot of 

 earth of few acres in extent, nestling among the hills, and called 

 meadow, formed of detritus deposited by a mountain torrent. Along 

 the rivers, also, which wash the base of the hills, he finds often a narrow 

 plain, lying between the precipice and the water's edge, and called 

 inferval ; and the farmer whose boundaries include these choice acres is 

 deemed fortunate indeed. 



