294 GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION. 



plants will grow only in water ; we find here such as are pe- 

 culiar to the marsh, the lake, the river, and the sea. Many 

 plants require a very elevated temperature, some will grow 

 only in mild and temperate climates, and others only in the 

 midst of frosts and snows. 



Thus every country where man is to be found has its vege- 

 tation. Some species, of plants, with respect to localities, are 

 confined to narrow limits. 



A species of ORIGANUM (the tournefortii)j was discovered by 

 Tburnefort, in 1700, upon one single rock in the little island of 

 Amorgos, in the Greek Archipelago ; eighty years afterwards 

 the plant was found in the same island, and upon the same rock, 

 and has never been discovered in any other situation. Some 

 plants confine themselves within certain longitudes, scarcely 

 varying from the right to the left. The MENZIESIA pallifolia, 

 a species of heath confined between ten and fifteen degrees of 

 west longitude, is found in Portugal, Spain, and Ireland. Lati- 

 tude and elevation, by reason of mountains and table lands, 

 produce a greater variety in the appearance of vegetation than 

 almost any other causes. 



Few plants are found to endure extreme cold. Botanists 

 have estimated, that at Spitsbergen 1 , in north latitude about 80, 

 there are but about 30 species of plants ; in Lapland, in 70, 

 there are 539 species ; at Madagascar, at the, tropic of Capri- 

 corn, there are 5000 ; and at the equator a much greater num- 

 ber. These estimates fall very far short of the number of 

 species now known, but they may give some idea of the differ- 

 ence in the vegetation of cold and warm climates. 



Geographical situation of Plants. 



Every country exhibits a botanical character peculiar to 

 itself. Linnaeus, in his bold and graphic language, said,* " A 

 practical botanist can usually at the first glance, distinguish 

 the plants of Africa, Asia, America and the Alps ; but it is not 

 easy to tell how he is able to do this. There is a certain cha- 

 racter of sullenness, gloom and obscurity, in the plants of Af- 

 rica ; something proud and elevated in those of Asia ; joyful 

 arid smiling in those of America ; while those of the Alps seem 

 hardened and ungrateful !" 



In investigating the geographical situation of the vegetable 



* Primo intuitu distinguit saepius exercitatus botanicus plantas Africa?, Asiee, 

 Americas, Alpiumque, sed non facile dicerit ipse ex qua nota. Nescis quse 

 facies torva, sicca, obscuris Afris ; qua? superba, exaltata Asiaticus ; qua? laota, 

 glabra Americanus ; qua? coarctata, indurata Alpiuis ! 



Some have a confined locality Few endure extreme cW Every couatr y 

 haw its own botanical character. 



