FLOWERING PLANTS OF NANTUCKET 435 
It lies open to the eye on Nantucket that the island is not at all 
inhospitable to plants of far northern and eastern range, and not 
a few such species have placed here their outlying southward 
colonies. And this corresponds in its import to what is true of 
such of our naturalized plants as have adopted anything like a 
definite range. Many more Nantucket plants are species whose 
main colonization in this country is to the northward rather 
than to the southward. And evidence of like bearing may be 
seen in this, that many of the island’s more southern plants 
are strictly localized, and, going back, as we may do in certain 
cases, even to the time of its earliest botanical explorers, have 
spread not at all from the localities where they were originally 
found. In the case of coastal plain species an explanation of 
this is hardly to be sought in soil conditions, and some repressive 
influence may be suspected in the notably delayed spring on this 
island and the average low temperature during the growing season 
that is a feature of its climate. 
* * ok oe * 
The northern element in the Nantucket native flora comes to 
view in its broader aspect in something over one hundred and 
fifty species that are at least prevailingly more northern in their 
general distribution. Many of these plants are to be accounted 
more northern partly in a distributional sense which allows for 
that equivalency in altitude which has permitted a far southward 
extension along the Appalachian highlands. Thus while probably 
less than fifteen Nantucket plants are nowhere found at a more 
southern point some three times that number are on this island at 
or near the southern limit of their coastwise range. Other Nan- 
tucket northward plants have taken some further way toward the 
south, a few to be stayed on Long Island, a larger number passing 
on, not without wide intervals, to find their southern limits in 
the Pine Barrens and Coastal Plain region of New Jersey. It 
might be supposed of the maritime species, their way open along 
the coast as far as had been their bent to follow it, that a freer 
progress had marked their course. But this has been not at 
all the case. Some of these plants also have made little or no 
advance beyond Nantucket, others in like manner with the more’ 
inland species have been held at various more southern points. 
