1904] The Flora of the Peace River Region. 117 



for hundreds of yards in every direction. No species rare in 

 Canada were seen on the prairie, or indeed anywhere with the ex- 

 ception of Caltha natans, which abundant enoug'h in that region 

 in brooks and natural ditches, is very restricted in its range. The 

 same might be said of Adoxa Moschatellina, usually found among 

 moss around the roots of trees. 



The flora of the woodlands is that of the sub-arctic forest 

 though even here the number of species is not very large. Imping- 

 ing as it does on the prairie the border of the poplar and spruce 

 woods, shows a very curious mixture of prairie and forest species 

 more noticeable here than further south, where the boundaries of 

 the prairie are constantly changing, and in the poplar bluffs 

 prairie species are often common. In the Peace River region, 

 however, the prairie often ends suddenly at the edge of the 

 virgin forest into which the characteristic prairie plants do not 

 penetrate, while the plants of the forest of course, do not thrive on 

 the open prairie, so that one may walk a few yards from the 

 prairie to the forest or vice versa and find floras in which there is 

 not a species co'umon to both. It gives one a strange feeling to 

 leave the bright prairie covered with masses of the most brilliantly 

 colored flowers, and after walking for five minutes through the 

 forest, to find oneself on the borders of a bleak moor, on which the 

 vegetation is scanty, and willows and dwarf birches the only 

 shrubs. In such places one may collect Astragalus alpinus, 

 Pedicularis Groenlandica and P. euphrasioides, Parnassia parvijiora 

 and other species characteristic of cold, wet, poor soil. It is hard 

 to believe when among such plants that a few hundred yards away 

 the prairie is blazing with bloom, and only a mile or two further 

 the bluffs along the river are covered with cactus. 



As regards the rarity of the plants and the number of species 

 the Peace River region is not an interesting one, but it affords a 

 splendid field for the study of many interesting points in connec- 

 tion with the distribution of plants. The most important lesson 

 taught is that whatever the climatic conditions or the character of 

 the soil Nature may be depended upon to cover up the earth with 

 verdure of some kind, if the forest is permanently removed plants 

 peculiar to meadows or prairies will somehow or other make their 

 appearance and when by means of drainage or other causes a wet 



