NATURAL HISTORY, TORONTO REGION 



nocladus dioicus) ; Judas-tree (Cercis canadensis} ; 

 sassafras (Sassafras sassafras') ; honey locust (Gle- 

 ditschia triacan'.hos) ; papaw (Asimina triloba), and 

 flowering dogwood (Cornus florida). 



The original forest, however, was doubtless made 

 up chiefly of oaks, hickories, maple, beech, basswood 

 and elm, with the trees mentioned above as secondary 

 species. Since the soil was of fine agricultural qual- 

 ity, the forest has almost entirely given way to farms. 

 One is urged to visit Rondeau Park if he wishes to 

 see a magnificent remnant of the forest type that 

 originally covered the area. 



The southern relationship of the flora is also 

 strikingly shown by the herbaceous forms. Probably 

 fifty species or more, many of them ranging as far 

 south as Florida, are found in Canada only in the 

 region described above. Among these may be men- 

 tioned : Rue anemone (Ranunculus thalictroides) ; 

 corydalis (Corydalis flavula) ; mouse-ear cress 

 (Sisymbrium thalianum) ; swamp saxifrage (Saxi- 

 fraga pennsylvanica) ; Indian physic (Gillenia tri- 

 foliata) ; wild indigo (Baptisia tinctoria) ; wild 

 lupine (Lupinus perennis} ; hoary pea (Tephrosia 

 virginiana) ; tick trefoil (Desmodium pauciflorum) ; 

 bush clover (Lespedeza virginica) ; Carolina vetch 

 (Vicia caroliniana) ; flax (Linum virginianum) ; 

 milkwort (Polygala sanguined) ; flowering spurge 

 (Euphorbia corollata) ; swamp rose mallow (Hibis- 

 cus moscheutos) ; great pinweed (Lechea villosa) ; 

 loose-strife (Lythrum alatum) ; harbinger of spring 

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