264 Dr. liuoker uii AmLrlcan Bota.itj. 



Plane; the majestic Tulip tree [Liriodendron tulipifera,) 

 reaching to the height of 140 feet, and loaded with large and* 

 brilliant flowers, the curious deciduous Cypress, and the sur 

 perb Magnolias. 



A different vegetation occurs in the more northerly of the 

 United States ; and what renders the botany of North Ame- 

 rica peculiarly interesting to the British naturalist is, that a 

 very large proportion of its vegetable productions may be as- 

 similated to our own climate. This is especially the case 

 with that extensive portion of it under our immediate consi- 

 deration. The Oaks and Firs of this district of North Ame- 

 rica now decorate many of our pkntations and pleasure 

 grounds, and as the quality of their timber comes to be better 

 known and appreciated, they will doubtless occupy a conspi- 

 cuous place in our woods and forests. Our shrubberies owe 

 their greatest beauty to the various species of jKaZmta,.^2;aZea, 

 Rhododendron, Robinia, Cornus, Sambucus, Ceanothus, and 

 Lonicera, to the Syringa, the flowering Raspberry, and a 

 hundred others, which flourish as if they were the aboriginal 

 natives of our soil; whilst the gardens of the curious are in- 

 debted for many of their choicest productions to the herba- 

 ceous plants of North America, the greater number being re- 

 markable for the brilliancy of their blossoms, and not a few, 

 such as the Dioncea and Sarracema, striking us as amongst 

 the most singular of all vegetable productions in their struc- 

 ture. Nay, such is the superiority of the climate, and the 

 fertility of the soil, that our European fruits, which were tak- 

 en over by the early settlers, have improved prodigiously in 

 quality ; to that degrf e, even that we now procure grafts of 

 them for our orchards and wall-trees ; and the most highly 

 flavoured apples that we (north of the Tweed at least) can 

 obtain for our desserts, are actually imported themselves from 

 America. 



In the arctic regions of the New World, there is a striking 

 similitude in the botanical productions with those of the sum- 

 mits of our highest Scotch mountains. 



The earliest accounts of the plants of North America con- 

 sist of detached memoirs, principally published by foreign- 

 ers, the Americans being themselves, for a long time, too 

 much occupied in commerce and agriculture to devote their 

 time and attention to science ; nor is it till a country has ar- 

 rived at that degree of political and mental improvement to 

 which we find the United States now to have attained, that 



