in 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 

 ombined effect of altitude and insularity in diminishing 

 pecies-production, the lower parts of these Japan mountains 

 eing highly cultivated. 



In the southern hemisphere we come first to the Cape 



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



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



pecies of heaths and nearly 100 species of orchises in this 



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



ther similar area in the temperate zone approaches it, 



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



xtent 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 1 8 10 Robert Brown made known the extreme interest 



