270 CLIMATAL FORESTS. 



Those pine forests, though the species are not 

 the same, follow the lines of the mountains to nearly 

 the southern boundary of the temperate zone ; and 

 there are some lofty situations where pines are met 

 with within the tropics. But oak, and the other 

 deciduous trees, form the chief characteristics of the 

 forests in the temperate countries ; and the box and 

 holly are found among the evergreens. About the 

 same time the ivy and the honeysuckle are found 

 native ; and in proceeding from the regions of the 

 snow they may be considered as the first plants 

 which hang their festoons upon other trees. The 

 honeysuckle is not, however, a parasite ; and 

 although the ivy certainly does destroy trees, it is 

 more by strangulation than by any other means; 

 for when the roots which connect it with the ground 

 are divided, it soon withers. 



As we advance still farther to the southward new 

 trees make their appearance, and give a new char- 

 acter to the scenery ; but as the continents become 

 more and more separated from each other by the 

 great ocean, their vegetable productions become 

 more and more dissimilar. The pines of Siberia, 

 and Norway, and New-Brunswick, are not quite the 

 same ; neither are the junipers and other evergreens 

 of more humble growth ; but still they have a con- 

 siderable resemblance. But when we advance to 

 about the latitude of the Mediterranean we find far 

 more dissimilarity. The deciduous cypress (Tazo- 

 dium disticha), which is so majestic a tree in the 

 lower valley of the Mississippi, is not found either in 

 Europe or Asia ; neither is there in America any 

 plant resembling the cork oak of Portugal and Spain, 

 nor the cypress or cedar of the Levant. 



Somewhere about the same parallel we meet with 

 particular spots which set all arrangements at de- 

 nance, and forbid us to attempt tracing any general 

 connexion between latitude, or almost any thing 

 else, and the vegetation which is predominant. 



