1895.] ESSAYS. 83 



desolate the country lie is exploring, the greater the difliculties and 

 dangers under which he encounters these subjects of his earliest 

 studies in science, so much keener the delight with which he recog- 

 nizes them, and the more lasting the impression which they leave. 

 At this moment these common weeds more vividly recall to me that 

 wild scene than does all my journal, and remind me how I went on 

 my way, taxing my memory for all it ever knew of the geographical 

 distribution of the shepherd's purse, and musing on the probability of 

 the plant having found its way thither over all Central Asia and the 

 ages that may have been occupied in its march." 



- Every one familiar with the native flora must have similar, if not quite 

 as striking, experiences, if he has travelled far from home. Years 

 ago I found the enchanter's nightshade, Circaea aljnna, L., among 

 the rocks of "Purgatory" in Sutton. I had something of the feeling 

 expressed by Hooker, when I afterwards saw it growing in a similar 

 situation iu the "• Trossachs " in the Scotch Highlands. 



Of the royal families of plants, those remarkable for their great 

 number of species, beauty or usefulness, such as the palms, the ferns, 

 the compound flowers, the grasses, the leguminous plants, we have 

 many representatives of all but the first. The palms, a tropical and 

 sub-tropical family, have no representative so far north of the Equa- 

 tor, although some species grow on the mountain-sides within the 

 tropics, which would seem to suggest an ability to adapt themselves 

 to a varied environment. While the ferns reach their greatest de- 

 velopment, both in size and in beauty, within the tropics or near by, 

 many of these beautiful genera have one or more representatives in 

 our own flora. In my friend's greenhouse I shall find quite a number 

 of species, delicate and graceful, of the large genus Adiantum. It 

 adds to my interest and pleasure in our one native species, the maiden 

 hair, to know that it belongs to so good a family. We will bear in 

 mind, too, that the exotic species which we find in cultivation are the 

 result of careful selection during a series of years of the species best 

 adapted for that purpose. If we can liave only one species of climb- 

 ing fern (Lygodium) , we are thankful for that, and sorry for our neigh- 

 bors farther north who are denied this privilege. We have some- 

 thing of the best there is along nearly every line. 



To a native of the tropics the palm family is undoubtedly the. royal 

 family. To a native of the Temperate regions the grass family has 

 the same high rank. No family of plants contributes so much to give 

 a pleasing aspect to the landscape. Each of the grand divisions of 

 the world has its large characteristic grassy plains, the prairies of the 



