L. OBSERVATIONS ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF 



PLANTS ALONG SHORE AT LAKE 



OF THE WOODS. 



Conway MacMillan. 



INTRODUCTION. 



During the summer of 1894 the writer in company with Mr. 

 E. P. Sheldon, visited Lake of the Woods, and made an 

 extensive collection principally upon the American islands. 

 This collection covered, as far as was possible, all the groups 

 of plants established in the region. In 1896 with Mr. E. E. 

 Nicholson a second trip was made to the same localities and to 

 several new, for the purpose of securing a series of photographs 

 that might best illustrate the many peculiarities of plant distri- 

 bution which had attracted attention upon the previous journey. 

 On this occasion, too, a considerable collection was gathered, 

 particularly of mosses and lichens. Professor Bruce Fink has 

 already recorded 1 his determinations of the lichens and Pro- 

 fessor J. M. Holzinger is at present engaged upon the identifi- 

 cation and distributional study of the mosses. The general 

 collection of ferns and flowering plants made in 1894 will be 

 listed later, either separately or, if this seems undesirable, in 

 a comprehensive paper upon the distribution of plants in 

 Northern Minnesota. It is the purpose of this essay to present 

 without distracting detail those conclusions which have been 

 reached regarding the ecological distribution of plants along 

 the shores of the lake. 



To interpret scientifically the location of plant individuals 

 and plant communities is by no means a simple problem. One 

 must recognize, however, that there is always a sufficient 

 reason for the establishment of a given plant upon a given 

 spot and pari passu of special plant societies over particular 

 areas of the earth's crust rather than elsewhere. Chance in its 



1 link: Lichens of Lake of the Woods. Minn. Bot. Stud. 1 :69i. 1806. 



