26 Geographical Distribution of Plants. 



ART. IV. — Remarks on the Geographical Distribution of Plants 

 in the British Possessions of North America. By George 

 Barnston, Lsq., Honorable Hudson's Bay Company. 



Group — AlbuminoSjE. 



Order — Nymphmacem. 



This order, containing a very few genera, and these purely aqua- 

 tic plants, is very ornamental to our small lakes and shallow rivers. 

 A certain depth of water, and in the streams a sluggish current, 

 are necessary for them. In such situations, their dark green and 

 generally cordiform leaves are seen floating on the surface, and 

 here and there a bright yellow or pure white cupshaped flower of 

 considerable size will be seen to attract the eye, and gratify the 

 beholder. Are these the offspring of the water ? is the first en- 

 quiry of the untutored stranger. But a slight investigation sets 

 queries at rest. The long pliant peduncles and leaf stalks are 

 found to be attached to a massive root of some hardness and con- 

 sistency, embedded in the oozy bottom. 



The Nymphma odorata, or white water lily, no stranger to Cana- 

 da, is rarely seen in the regions north of the Province, but the 

 Nuphar lutea, or yellow pond lily, is fond of the colder latitudes. 

 Sir John Richardson brings it up to latitude 55°, or places in his 

 first zone on the east side, and as far as 58° on the west side of 

 the continent. In the longitude of lake Winipeg, 55° is certainly 

 within its bounds, but it may be observed here that Sir John de- 

 fines this zone of 45 s5 to 55 Q as an isothermal one, not exactly one 

 of latitude. It corresponds nearly with the strongly wooded dis- 

 trict south of the lichen covered barren grounds, from which we 

 may suppose it to be separated, by a line running from latitude 

 52° or 53°, on the Labrador peninsula, up to 58 s or even 60°, in 

 the longitude of 120°, or the neighbourhood of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. In this section of the country, viz : Lake Winipeg, the 

 Nuphar lutea is particularly abundant. Its shining yellow flowers, 

 less chaste and delicate than those of nymphsea, are everywhere 

 to be seen on our shoal and muddy lakes, and they greet us at 

 every turn of those winding streams, that drag their dull courses 

 through the dark and continuous forests, that cover the Chippewa 

 and Cree lands. A thick fringe of sedges and reeds may in 

 these lazy rivers occupy the approach to the shore, but where the 

 water deepens, the Nuphar lutea dots the expanse, its leaves and 



