THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES 



native of the mountains of California, another of the 

 mountains of Formosa and southern China, while 

 several species are indigenous to South America and 

 New Zealand. Some groups of trees are represented 

 by many species, others by one or two species. And 

 so as study follows interest it is clearly seen that 

 some groups are in the heyday of their youth, others 

 in their prime, others on the wane — not as individuals 

 but as groups. Reasoning on these facts the con- 

 clusion is naturally reached that in the progressive 

 development of types of trees this is the natural se- 

 quence. It has been the same through the world's 

 history. Types have arisen and disappeared, some 

 completely, while others, altered and modified to 

 meet the climatic and other changes, have persisted 

 through very long periods of time, and are, as it 

 were, living fossils. 



With three of these ancient types of trees I shall 

 deal at length in succeeding chapters, but, as an ex- 

 planatory introduction, it is necessary to enter a 

 little into the subject of plant distribution in general. 

 A popular book is hardly the place for a full discus- 

 sion of these matters, yet they are of such interest 

 and importance that a few salient points cannot fail 

 to be of use in understanding present phenomena of 

 tree distribution. Savants have written much to 

 explain particular cases, and as knowledge increases 

 16 



