PLANT COLLECTING IN CHINA. 21 



naturalized and miles and miles of the river banks are covered with 

 this plant. Associated with this plant is a mimosa-like legume. 

 So much does the presence of these two plants approximate to what 

 obtains in Texas and New Mexico that if a traveller could be sud- 

 denly dropped there from a balloon or aeroplane he would be 

 unable to tell from the nature of the flora around whether he was in 

 the above states of America or in China! 



Another interesting fact and one that has peculiar relation to the 

 flora of western Hupeh is the number of plants bearing the specific 

 name, japonica, which are only Japanese by cultivation and really 

 Chinese in origin. The following well-known plants are examples: 

 — Iris japonica, Anemone japonica, Lonicera japonica, Kerria 

 japonica, Aucuba japonica, Senecio japonica, and Eriobotrya 

 japonica. Possibly some of these (and there are heaps more) may 

 be common to both countries but, I am convinced, that when the 

 subject is properly threshed out it will be found that fewer plants 

 are common to both countries than at present are generally sup- 

 posed to be. 



The affinity of the Chinese flora w r ith that of contiguous and 

 distant countries is another interesting theme, but time and space 

 forbid of our discussing it in a general way. There is, however, 

 one phase of this subject which cannot be omitted, namely, the 

 ancient character of the Chinese flora and its close affinity with the 

 flora of the Atlantic sea-board of the United States of America. 



That the Chinese flora is an ancient one is evidenced by the 

 number of old types it contains, — for example, Ginkgo biloba 

 (maidenhair tree). In ancient times this tree was found not only 

 in Asia but in Western Europe and in Greenland also, fossil remains 

 being found in the Jurassic beds of these countries. Today it 

 exists only in China and Japan and as a cultivated tree, being 

 preserved to us by the Buddhist and the religious communities. 

 Cryptomeria japonica is another old type preserved through the 

 same agencies. Cycas, Cephalotus, Torreya and Taxus are other 

 old types which occur both in a wild and cultivated state in China 

 today. Many of the old types of ferns such as Osmunda, Glei- 

 cheriia, Marattia, and Angiopteris are commonly and widely spread 

 in China. 



The affinity between the floras of Eastern Asia and the Atlantic 



