246 FORESTS AND TEEES OF KOSTH AMERICA. 



ON THE DISTEILUTION OF TEE FORESTS AND TREES OF NORTH AMERICA, 

 WITH NOTES ON ITS PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



BY J. G. COOPEP., M. D. 



[This article lias "been prepared at tire expense of the Smithsonian 

 fund for the purpose of illustrating, in connexion with the meteorolo- 

 gical observations now in progress under tlie direction of this Institu- 

 tion and the Patent Office, the climate of the continent of North 

 America. A favor will he conferred by any person who may furnish 

 materials for extending or correcting the list of trees herewith ap- 

 pended.] 



The list appended to this article has been prepared in order to show 

 the present state of knowledge of the distribution of the most import- 

 ant and useful trees and shrubs of the country, and at the same time 

 to elicit further information on this interesting subject. 



With these objects in view, it has been attempted to give, where 

 known, the extreme points to which each species extends in every 

 direction, and at the same time to show in what part of the country 

 it attains its greatest development and abundance. The chief defi- 

 ciency in the first part of the plan has been found to be' the want of 

 precise localities in the limits mentioned by botanists. For instance, 

 a tree may be described as found in Virginia, and yet not occur for 

 hundreds of miles in travelling through that large State, which 

 includes parts of three very distinct botanical regions. Any positive 

 locality is of more use in determining range than such statements as 

 the foregoing, for it enables botanists to increase the known range by 

 observations in their own districts. The various State collections and 

 reports have given the most accurate information on this subject, but 

 very much is still wanting, and, in fact, respecting the range of most 

 trees east of the Mississippi, scarcely anything has been added to the 

 published observations of the two Michaux. 



In regard to the region of greatest abundance, there is much of the 

 same want of accurate knowledge. In some cases it has been neces- 

 sary to judge of this irom the nature of the country and the known 

 preference of the tree for particular kinds of soil, or its ability to 

 withstand cold. Although there is much uncertainty on this subject, 

 it will probably be found that the chief facts now known are stated ; 

 since I have, at least, good authority for the occurrence, if not for 

 the abundancCj of each tree in the region where it is considered most 

 characteristic. Thus, in the absence of statistical information, it was 

 necessary to select for the Mississippi region : 1st. Trees of the 

 swamps, which have their central or maximum of number and develop- 

 ment in such a locality. 2d. Such as extend scarcely north of Georgia, 

 and, presumptively, are more common in the warmer region near the 

 Gulf of Mexico. The trees believed to be peculiar to any region have 



