18G1.] BOTANY OF THE DOWARD HILLS. 103 



yet were imalilc to exterminate the feebler races. When the 

 Titans succumbed, a humbler race took their place. 



Were any change in the position of the earth^s axis to take 

 place, or if by any other mechanical or physical alteration the 

 Arctic regions could enjoy a somewhat higher temperature than 

 they do at present, there Avould soon spring up a luxuriant growth 

 of Birch, Pine, and even Oak trees; and if these were only 

 slightly protected from cattle, the hills and mountains of Lapland 

 would abound in forests like the pine-clad hills of Norway and 

 North America. 



This new arborescent vegetation would not spring from seeds 

 which had lain dormant in the soil since the Creation, but from 

 plants which had existed for centuries under the Heath, Moss, 

 and Lichens with which these inhospitable countries are covered. 

 The herbaceous Willow Avould be as ligneous as the Willows of 

 our brouks, if the short summer and scarcity of heat and light 

 suffered it to ripen its tissues and to convert them into woody 

 fibre. The trees of Sweden, or several of them, are found in 

 Lapland, but only a few inches high ; the only ligneous portion 

 of them is just the part protected by the scanty vegetation with 

 which they are surrounded. 



The Hellebores and the Daffodils probably need more caloric, 

 as well as more light, than they can get when the place where they 

 grow is densely covered with trees, branches, and leaves. When 

 these are removed, the plants appear and grow vigorously, till the 

 subsequent growth causes them to decrease, and finally to disap- 

 pear. 



Huichinsia petraa gi'ows on the calcareous rocks, and Hippo- 

 crepis comosa, Spircea Filipendula, and Onobrychis sativa on the 

 grassy open places. The latter is usually considered an escape 

 from places where it was or is still cultivated. Whether this be 

 be so or not, the plant is well established in many parts of the 

 kingdom. 



Tilia yrandifolia and T. parviflora grow in plantations. Bota- 

 nists are not unanimous in admitting their claims as natives of 

 England, although they are entered in every Flora, from Goth- 

 land in the Baltic to the Balearic Isles in the Mediterranean. 



Acer campestre and Euonymuseuropceus, plants of the Dowards, 

 have also an equally extensive range in Europe, viz. from Sweden 

 to the south of Spain. 



