1903-4. | How Pant LIFE Is DISTRIBUTED IN CANADA AND WHY. 25 
limit of this area curving in a southerly direction to the sources of the 
Gatineau and the shores of Lake Abittibi and then rising again to include 
Lake Nepigon, and having within parts of it many of the trees of the 
Maple and Beech Area although many are also conspicuous by their 
absence, especially in Nova Scotia, where there are altogether only thirty- 
three species of trees as against seventy-six in Ontario; fourthly, the 
White Spruce Area which includes the very extensive country between 
Labrador on the one hand and the Pacific Coast on the other, northward 
of the white Pine Area and the prairies and of about Fort Quesnelle in 
British Columbia to the extreme limit of the growth of trees near Un- 
gava Bay, the Seal River on Hudson Bay and the mouth of the Mac- 
kenzie River, and having as its leading feature that practically eight 
species make up its vast forests, namely, the White and Black Spruce, 
the Paper Birch, the Balsam Fir, the Aspen, the Larch, the Balsam 
Poplar and the Banksian Pine; fifthly, the Douglas Fir Area which oc- 
cupies nearly the whole of southern and central British Columbia to 
beyond latitude 55°, excepting the drier portions of the inland plateau, 
and includes forty-five species of trees of which thirty-four are, in Can- 
ada, exclusively within British Columbia or in the case of two or three, 
including the Douglas Fir, Black Pine and Western White Spruce, ex- 
tend eastward somewhat beyond the foot-hills of the Rockies. 
Taking, however, a general view of the whole flora of the Dominion, 
including herbaceous plants and shrubs as well as trees, we can readily 
distinguish the following marked groups :-— 
Canadian Group.—Embracing numerous species very generally dis- 
tributed over the whole country from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and, many 
of them, northward more or less to the limit of growth of trees. They 
also occur in the Northern United States, but probably the great mass of 
the individuals of each species is rather in Canada than the United States. 
Forest Group.—Comprising numerous species which range more or 
less from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to the Rocky Mountains or 
towards there, but which appear to affect the forest country and to, 
more or less, avoid the prairie. The species of this group do not cross 
the Rocky Mountains. 
Maritime Group.—Species confined to the immediate sea shore, 
some on the Atlantic, some on the Pacific, and others common to both 
seashores, although several of them are also found along the Great Lakes 
and in the neighbourhood of saline ground farther inland. 
Eastern Coast Group.—Comprising plants confined in range to the 
eastern portions of the Province of Quebec and to the Maritime Pro- 
vinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, although this large area is 
more conspicuous by the absence of numerous species common in On- 
tario and Western Quebec than by the presence of a distinctive flora. 
