ON THK CUAIIACTKUlSTICti OF THE NORTH AMHRICAN FLOUA. 



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liavc lost somo of its botanical attractions. But lary:o tracts are still 

 nearly iti a state of nature. Drosora filiforrais, .so unlike any European 

 species, and the beautiful sabbatias, the yeliovv-l'ringed orchises, laeh- 

 nanthes and lophiola, the larger xyrises and eriocaulons, the curious 

 frass amphicarpum with cleistogamous flowers at the root, the showy 

 species of (!hry8opsis, and iniiny others must still abound. And every 

 botanist will wish to collect sehizioa pusilla, rarest, most local, and among 

 the smallest of ferns. 



If only the season would allow it, there is a more southern station of 

 special interest, — Wilmington, on the coast of North (Carolina. Car- 

 nivorous |)Iants have, of late years, excited the gi-eatost interest, both 

 popular and scientific, and here, of all places, cixrnivorous plants seem to 

 hiive their most variod development. For tliis is the only and the very 

 local home of dionica; here grow almost all the North American species 

 of drosera: here, near by, are most of the species of sarracenia, of tho 

 hiailder-bearing utricularias, — one of which the President of our sec- 

 tion has detected in fish-catching, — and also the largest species of pin- 

 guieula. 



J]ut at this season a more enjoyable excursion may be made to tho 

 Kouthcrn ])ortion of tho Alleghany or Appalachian mountains, which 

 separate tho waters of the Atlantic hide from those of tho Mississippi. 

 These mountains are now ea.sily reached from Philadelphia. In Penn.syl- 

 vania, where they consist of ])arallel ridges without peaks or crests, and 

 are of no great height, they are less interesting botanically than in 

 Virginia; but it is in Xorth Carolina and tho adjacent borders of 

 Tenr.es.see that they rise to their highest altitude, and take on more pic- 

 turesque forms. On their sides the Atlantic forest, especially its deciduous- 

 leaved portion, is still to bo seen to greatest advantage, nearly in pristine 

 condition, and composed of a greater variety of genera and species than in 

 any otlier temperate region, excepting Japan. And in their shade are the 

 greatest variety and abundance of sln-ubs, and a good sliai'c of the most 

 peculiar herbaceous genera. This is the special lunne of our rhododen- 

 drons, azaleas, and kalmias ; at least hero they flourish in greatest 

 number and in most luxuriant growth. Rhododendron maximum (which 

 is found in a scattered way even as far north as tho vicinity of Montreal) 

 and kalmia latifolia (both called laurels) even become forest trees in some 

 places; more commonly they fire shrubs, forming dense thickets on steep 

 mountain-sides, through which the traveller can make his way only by 

 following old bear-paths, or by keeping strictly on the dividing crests of 

 the leading ridges. 



Only on the summits do we find rhododendron catawbiense, parent 

 of so many handsome forms in English grounds, and on the higher 

 ■wooded slopes tho yellow and the flame-coloured azalea calendulacea ; on 

 the lower, the pink A. nudiflora and more showy A. arborescens, along 

 with the common and widespread A. viscosa. The latter part of Jano is 

 the proper time to explore this region, and, if only one portion can bo 

 visited, lioan Mountain should be preferred. 



On these mountain tops we meet with a curious anomaly in geo- 

 graphical distribution. With rarest exceptions, plants which are common 

 to this country and to pjuropo extend well northward. But on the.se 

 sunmiits from southern Virginia to Carolina, yet nowhere else, we find^ — 

 undoubtedly indigenous and undoubtedly identical with the Eui'opoan 

 .species — the lily-of-thc-valley. 



