37 



quated having been by nearW all American botanists 

 wholly discarded — and the recognized necessity of speci- 

 mens to verify each epecies reported, our local and 

 State lists can take a higher rank and be more reliable 

 and useful. 



Geographical — The State Herbarium, containing 

 specimens of nearly all the species that occur in Ohio, 

 and in most cases having representatives from various 

 portions of the State, now affords data for reliable con- 

 clusions. Situated in the Province which geographical 

 botanists call the "Appalachian" it is nevertheless a 

 fact that the Prairie flora permits many of its repre- 

 sentatives to invade the western half of the State. 



Many European plants have been naturalized and 

 well established in our region. Leaving such plants 

 out of the account, we may say that very few of the 

 species belong to the Ohio flora that have migrated 

 from the eastern or northeastern portion of our con- 

 tinent. In fact it is doubtful whether such an expression 

 can be properly used at all. The fact is, some of the 

 plants usually designated as northern have represent- 

 atives for their southern limit in our State. Many 

 species that are southern in their range are found 

 in the southern counties of Ohio and some have 

 pushed far northward. A tabulation shows that 

 fewer northern than southern plants are found in the 

 State. 



Making a list of the remaining plants that have 

 their range mainly beyond our border, we find that 

 many — more than those already referred to — belong to 

 the south west or to the west, but southward ; and 

 finally, by far the largest list belongs to the northwest, 

 or west but northward. Evidently the flora of the 

 State is closely allied to that of the north west and its 

 strictlv Appalachian character is apparently not 

 strongly marked. 



