m TEMPERATE FLORAS 37 



Boulder County is probably one of the most favourably 

 situated areas in the United States. It is only a little west 

 of the centre of the country ; it comprises warm valleys and 

 one of the highest of the Rocky Mountain summits, Long's 

 Peak, and being in the latitude of southern Italy and Greece, 

 has abundant sunshine and a warm summer temperature. 

 It thus agrees in physical conditions with some of the alpine 

 cantons of Switzerland, and the number of its flowering 

 plants is almost identical with the average of Zurich, St. 

 Gall, Schwyz, etc., which have almost the same mean area. 



Washington, D.C., with an undulating surface just above 

 the sea-level, and a fair amount of forest and river-swamp, 

 agrees very well with the mean of Strasburg and Schaff- 

 hausen, somewhat similarly situated, but at a higher latitude. 



The two mountain areas in Japan, which Mr. Hayati 

 informs me have been well explored, show an unexpected 

 poverty in species, being much below any of the Swiss 

 cantons of equal area. This is the more remarkable as 

 Japan itself is equal to the most favoured countries in 

 Europe France and Italy ; and this again indicates the 

 combined effect of altitude and insularity in diminishing 

 species-production, the lower parts of these Japan mountains 

 being highly cultivated. 



In the southern hemisphere we come first to the Cape 

 Peninsula, as limited by Mr. Bolus, and often thought to 

 be the richest area of its size in the world. There are 80 

 species of heaths and nearly 100 species of orchises in this 

 small tract only a little larger than the Isle of Wight. No 

 other similar area in the temperate zone approaches it, 

 though it is possible that an equally rich area of the same 

 extent might be found in temperate Sikhim, where several 

 distinct floras meet and intermingle. But as the Valais is 

 nearly as rich as Sikhim, and Susa with one-fourth the area 

 is still richer, it is quite possible that smaller areas may 

 be found as rich as that of the Cape Peninsula. The best 

 third of the Susa district would probably approach closely 

 if it did not quite equal it. Temperate Australia is another 

 country which has obtained a high reputation for its floral 

 riches, for much the same reason as the Cape of Good Hope. 

 In 1810 Robert Brown made known the extreme interest 



