'*! 



J64 



REPOMT — 1884. 



mnrks the limit of {j^liiciatioii, rarely passes tlio parallel of 40° or l>0''. Xor 

 liave any violent cliauges oceurred here, as they have on tlio I'aeific side 

 of tlie eontincnt, witliin the period under (juestion. So, while Europe 

 v/as siifl'eririj,' hardship, the lines of our Atlantic American llora were cast 

 in jiloasant places, and the goodly heritage remains essentially un- 

 imjiavred. 



The transverse direction and the massivcness of the mountains of 

 Europe, while they have in part determined the comparative poverty ol' 

 its forest-vegetation, have preserved there a rich and widely (listributed 

 Al|tiiu' flora. Tliat of Atlantic North America is insignificant. It consists 

 of a few arctic plants, left scattered upon narrow and scattered mountain- 

 tops, or in cool ravines of moderate elevation ; tlio maximum altitude is 

 only about (!,000 feet in lat, 44", on the Wliite ^Lonntains of New Hamp- 

 shire, wliere no winter snow outlasts midsummer. Tlu; best Alpine 

 stations are within easy reach of Montreal. I3at as almost every species 

 is common to Kurope, and the mountains are not magnificent, they offoi- 

 no great attraction to a European botanist. 



Farther soutli, the Appalachian ^lountains are higher, between lat. 

 3G^ and 34" rising considerably above (j,000 feet ; they have botanical 

 attractions of their own, but they have no Alpine plants. A few snh- 

 Alpino species linger on the cool sliores of Lake Superior, at a compara- 

 tively low level. Perhaps as many are found nearly at the level of the sea 

 on Anticosti, in the Gulf of >St. Lawrence, ubnornially cooled by tlie 

 Labrador current. 



Tiie chain of great fresh-water lakes, which arc discharged by tlio 

 brimming St. jjawrence, seems to have little effect upon our botany, 

 beyond the bringing down of a few north-western species. I»ut you may 

 note with interest that they harbour sundry maritime species, menuMitos 

 of the former saltness of these interior seas. Cakilo Americana, much 

 like the European sea rocket, Hudsonia tomentosa (a peculiar cistacioiis 

 genus imitating a heath), lathyrus raaritimus, and ammophila arenaria 

 are the principal. Salicornia, glaux, scirpus maritimus, ranunculus 

 cymbalaria, and some others may bo associated with them. But these 

 are widely diffused over the saline soil which characterises the plains 

 beyond our wooded region. 



I have thought that some general considerations like these might have 

 more interest for the biological section at large than any particular indi- 

 cations of our most interesting plants, and of how and where the botanist 

 might find them. Those who in these busy days can find time to herborise 

 will be in the excellent hands of the Canadian botanists. At Philailcl- 

 phia their brethren of ' the States ' will be assembled to meet their 

 visitors, and the Philadelphians will escort them to their classic ground, 

 the Pine Barrens of New Jer.s"y. To have an idea of this ))eculiar pliy- 

 togeographical district, you may suppose a long wedge of the Carolina coast 

 to be thrust up northward quite to New York harbour, bringing into a 

 comparatively cool climate many of the interesting low-country plants of 

 the South, which, at this season, you would not care to seek in their 

 sultry proper home. Years ago, when Pursh and Leconte and Torriy 

 used to visit it, and in my own younger days, it was AvhoUy primitive 

 and unspoiled. Now, when the shore is lined with huge snnimer hotels, 

 the pitch pines cari-ied oft" for firewood, the bogs converted int> cranberry- 

 grounds, and much of the light sandy or gravelly soil planted with vino- 

 yards or converted into melon and sweet-potato patches, I fear it may 



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