I09 



rise in sheltered places with attractive foliage and tall panicles 

 of green flowers. Lesser plants of the buckwheats, the mustards, 

 the pinks and many others combine to make the high mountain 

 flora one of exceptional interest. Of interest not only because 

 of its beauty and comparative rarity, but because it represents 

 largely an arctic or northern type of vegetation which lives in 

 places of exposure and vicissitudes and also because it represents 

 a flora less familiar to the botanist on account of its more remote 

 and less accessible location. 



Another point of interest in connection with the northern 

 vegetation, is that we have here, near the ridge of the continent, 

 an overlapping of the eastern and western floras. Plants from 

 the Atlantic states and the middle west have spread westward 

 to the summit of the Rocky Mountains and beyond. Those of 

 the Pacific region have moved eastward, in the case of some 

 species, as far as the Great Lakes. Many spread by means 

 of wind-bloAvn seeds and the direction of prevailing winds has 

 much to do with their distribution. Some are scattered mainly 

 by birds which are influenced largely in their movements by 

 topography and the climatic conditions which follow from it. 

 The history of the recent geological past is bound up with that 

 of the Rocky Mountain flora and adds much to the interest ot 

 its study. 



State University, Missoula, Montana. 



An Additional Species of Peperomia from Florida. — The 

 large tropical genus Peperomia has crossed the Gulf Stream 

 sparingly and settled in Florida in five species which fall into 

 three groups. They are all humus plants. The two species 

 with small herbaceous leaves — P. huniilis and P. cumiilicola — 

 grow in the humus of the hammock floor, thus they are terrestrial, 

 at least in position. The three plants with coriaceous leaves 

 fall into two groups: P. spatulifolia has a branching inflorescence 

 and grows on humus covered rocks, while P . obtusifolia and P. 

 floridana have a simple inflorescence and grow on living trees 

 or decaying logs. 

 ^/' Peperomia floridana Small, sp. nov. Plants epiphytic, odor- 

 less or faintly aromatic: stems prostrate and creeping or some- 

 times elongate and vinelike, often matted: leaf-blades ovate to 



