i86 Gelehrte Gesellschaften. 



Messrs. Schrenk, Day and Britton were appointed a permanent 

 committee to act with Mr. Steiger in preparing a catalogue of the plants 

 of Central Park. 



A permanent Committee, consisting of Messrs. Britton and Hyatt, 

 and Miss Knight, was appointed to organize a sub-section for the study 

 of physiological botany. -vt v 



Dr. Willis showed specimens, from a dry hill near Scarsdale, JN. Y., 

 of a Melanthium, which Dr. Britton identified as M. latifolium. Desrouss, 

 a species which grows on dry ground, while M. Virginicum occurs in swamps. 

 One person was elected an active member. 



According to previous announcement, the President, Dr. Newberry, was 

 to have delivered an address upon the Vegetation along the Line of the 

 Northern Pacific Railroad, but, owing to the lateness of the hour, he was 

 obliged to confine himself to a description of the forest trees. The foUowing 

 is an abstract: 



Onthe forest trees ofthe country borderingthe lineofthe 

 Northern Pacific Railroad. 



In going westward from Lake Superior the arborescent Vegetation ceases 

 near Brainerd, the last trees being white pine, Banks's pine, the larch, white 

 birch, white maple and aspen. Thence to the Rocky Mountains a continuous 

 sheet of herbaceous Vegetation Covers the surface , and no trees are seen 

 except cottonwoods (Populus monilifera) along the Missouri. The first ranges 

 of the Rocky Mountains on this route along the Yellowstone River and in 

 the Park are covered sparsely or densely with trees, the higher summits 

 and ridges with Pinus flexilis James, Abies grandis and Tsu^a Douglassii 

 Carr., while the foot-hills, and, in some cases the levels, are thickly set with 

 Pinus contorta Dougl., var. Murrayana Watson. This latter is regarded by 

 some as a distinct species (P. Murrayana Murr.), but is only an upland form, 

 which is larger and more spreading. Both varieties, however, grow in 

 proximity in many parts of Oregon and Northern California. In the low- 

 lands of the Park are dense thickets of dwarf willow and here and there a 

 tree of Populus angustifolia James and Pinus ponderosa Dougl. 



The divide west of Helena is covered with scattered trees of Douglass s 

 spruce , which here reaches a height of one hundred feet. In the gorges 

 which head in the mountains there are a few troew , often of good size , ot 

 Pinus ponderosa Dougl., but they are here out of place and belong properly 

 to the arid country between the Rocky Mountains and the Cascade Range. 



in the Valley of Clark's Fork and about Pend'Oreille Lake the 

 forest growth is quite strong, the rocky cliii's and ridges are set with 

 Douglass's and Menzie's spruces, while the lowlands sustam a crowded 

 growth of slender trees belonging to three species which are charactenstic 

 of the Western flora, probably not crossing the divide. These are Pinus 

 monticola Dougl., Larix occidentalis Nutt. -and Thuya gigantea J>lutt. Ot 

 these , the first has altogether the habit of our white pme in trunk , toliage 

 and branches, but is at once distinguished by its longer and more slender 

 cones. In the Cascade Mountains this species occur» sparingly over a large 

 area, but I have never seen it elsewhere in such abundance as on Olark s 

 Fork. The same is true of the Larix; larger trees than any found here are 

 scattered over the eastern slope of the mountains of Oregon , but they are 

 comparatively rare. The Thuya extends from the sources to the mouth ot 

 the Columbia, constantly increasing in size; in the Rocky Mountains never 

 attaining more than one-half the dimensions it reaches on the lower river. 

 As we descend the valley of Clark's Fork the western hemlock (Isuga 

 Mertensiana Carr.) begins to make its appearance ; at first as shrubs or low 

 trees simulating exactly the hemlock of the Eastern States, from which this 

 has only a varietal difference. On the Lower Columbia it grows, like many 

 other conifers, to be a majestic tree. 



Between the last ranges of the Rocky Mountains, near Fend Ureille 

 Lake and the Cascades, the prevailing and almost the only tree is Pmus 

 ponderosa Dougl. It scarcely forms forests here , but is scattered over the 

 country in considerable abundance and attains a large size. 



