TWENTY-FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING. 91 



Of the eastern genera, seven extend into Kansas bat do not reach Mexico: Bol- 

 tonia, Silphinm, Echinacea, Lepachys, Cacalia, Lactuca, and Rudbeckia. The latter 

 extends into the Rocky Mountains. These genera are but sparsely represented on 

 the plains, being found in Kansas mostly in the eastern part. 



Fifteen Eastern genera extend into Mexico, but not west of the plains: Elephan- 

 topus, Vernonia, Kuhnia, Liatris, Heterotheca, Polymnia, Iva, Eclipta, Heliopsis, 

 Verbesina, Actinomeris, Coreopsis, Bidens, Helenium, and Erechtites. 



Four genera of the southeast region extend as far north as Kansas, and all but 

 the first also into Mexico: Marshallia, Hymenopappus, Gaillardia, and Pyrrho- 

 pappus. 



Ten genera are common to Mexico and the plains, but are not found in the other 

 regions. These 10 genera, many of which are not found north of Kansas, throw 

 much light on the relation of the Kansas flora. These genera are: Gutierrezia, 

 Amphiachyris, Grindelia, Aplopappus, Aphanostephus, Evax, Engelmannia, Zinnia, 

 Thelesperma, and Dysodia. 



This relation is shown in a different form by the following summary of the 47 

 genera under consideration: 



Common to Kansas and Mexico, 31 genera. 



Common to Kansas and northeast region, 23 genera. 



Common to Kansas and southeast region, 28 genera. 



Common to Kansas and Rocky Mountains, 8 genera. 



We see from these tabulations that our flora has more in common with Mexico 

 than any other region. Ten genera have extended only along the plains; three, also, 

 into the Rocky Mountains; three along the plains and into the southeast region; 15 

 have spread more or less throughout eastern North America. Geographically, Kan- 

 sas is much more closely related to the portion of the United States east of the Mis- 

 sissippi than it is to Mexico, yet we have only seven genera common only to the 

 two former, while we have 10 common only to Kansas and Mexico. The small num- 

 ber of northern and mountain genera is also very noticeable. 



This relation of the Kansas flora to the Mexican is undoubtedly closely connected 

 with the receding of the glacial epoch. As the arctic forms withdrew northward or 

 into the mountains, their place was taken by forms from the south. As was pointed 

 out by Doctor Watson (Proc. A. A. A. S., vol. XXXIX), the Mexican flora is more 

 closely related to not only the plains, but the whole Atlantic region, than to the 

 Pacific or Great Basin regions. Doctor Britton (I.e.) arrives at the same result by 

 a tabulation of the orders of phanerogams. 



SOME NOTES ON CONDENSED VEGETATION IN WESTEEN KANSAS. 



BY MINNIE BEED, MANHATTAN, KA8. 



It is a well-known fact that the geographical position of a plant determines its 

 habits and peculiarities of appearance; that is, we expect to see a certain kind of 

 vegetation in the tropics, another in the temperate zone, and still another in the 

 frigid, just as we expect to see different races or types of the human family in the 

 different zones. This variation of plants in different localities of the same zone is 

 almost as striking in some instances, and often plants belonging in the same fam- 

 ily, or even the same genus, are frequently so different in appearance as to be almost 

 unrecognized by the amateur botanist. 



Take, for instance, the mountain and valley flora, or those of the swamp and arid. 



