THE 



CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



SECOND SERIES. 



OBSERVATIONS ON CANADIAN GEOGRAPHICAL 



BOTANY. 



By a. T. Drummond, B.A., LL.B. 



The more observable features in the distribution of our native 

 plants can now, I think, be indicated with some degree of accuracy 

 by the aid of the catalogues, published and unpublished, of va- 

 rious collectors in different parts of the province. The range 

 of many species is of course not yet satisfactorily ascertained, and 

 doubtless in coming years there may be some plants at present 

 thought to be restricted to particular localities, which will be found 

 to have a somewhat wider distribution. I feel certain, too, that 

 a careful search along our boundary-lines will be rewarded by 

 the discovery of many species as yet unknown to Canadian col- 

 lectors, which will thus increase the floras peculiar to different 

 districts. Many details, therefore, require to be yet worked out, 

 before results entirely satisfactory can be arrived at. 



Geographically, Canada extends over an area of about twenty- 

 eight degrees of longitude and ten and three quarters degrees of 

 latitude ; stretching from East Cape, Anticosti, to the River 

 Kaminastiquia, which flows into Lake Superior; and from Point 

 Pelee, which juts into Lake Erie, to latitude 52° 45', the northern 

 limit. This area, whilst extensive, has some peculiar physical 

 features, which have a most important bearing upon the distribu- 

 tion of the plants composing its flora. The southern and western 

 limits are bounded, for the greater part of the distance, by the river 

 St. Lawrence and a chain of extensive sheets of water, which 

 stretch through several degrees of latitude, locating our province 

 Vol. I. BB Ko. S. 



