OF PLANTS. 260 



shores of all the dreary islands that lie near the 

 margin of the polar ice. 



These pine forests form the characteristic vege- 

 tation of the verge of the northern polar zone, and 

 the northern part of the temperate one. There some 

 of the species are found far to the south as in the 

 island of Teneriffe, and the mountains of Mexico, and 

 some of the West India islands ; but it is a curious 

 distinction of the two hemispheres, that though 

 there are trees in the southern that are called pines, 

 and have some of the characters of the tribe, there 

 is not a true pine found native to the southward of 

 the equator. 



Even in the north, where they are found in all the 

 three quarters that abut on the Arctic Sea, there are 

 peculiarities in those pines. Towards the east of 

 Asia they are of small dimensions, but the timber is 

 heavy, and very hard and durable. As one advances 

 westward, they increase in size ; and the tallest that 

 are met with on the oid continent are in Norway. 

 In America they are very tall; and towards the 

 shores of the Pacific they are giants of from 300 to 

 400 feet in height, and 18 or 20 in diameter. 



Another peculiarity is, that though some species 

 grow in the peat-swamps, the majority follow the 

 directions of the rocky mountains, those especially 

 which are composed of granite, while the debris and 

 secondary strata are covered with trees which shed 

 their leaves. 



Few plants, except fungi and mosses, thrive under 

 the shade of pines, though in all the pine districts 

 there are numerous species of wild berries and 

 other sub-shrubby plants in the vacant spaces. In 

 those forests there is, accordingly, but little to 

 attract notice, except the gloomy grandeur of the 

 pines themselves. There are no climbing and twi- 

 ning plants ; and flowers are few, and by no means 

 interesting ; while of native fruits there may be said 

 to be none. 



Zf 



