324 Part III. Chapter 4. 
distinctively Californian, that is, species peculiar to California are very abundant, 
while common American species, i.e. those common to California and other 
parts of North America are very few and rare. (See also ante, Chap. 3 $ 5.) 
6. Relationship of the Floras of Mexico, Central America and 
West Indies. 
Without attempting exact definitions of boundaries, we may repeat that 
there are three distinct floral provinces to be recognized in Mexico and Central 
America. Thus part of Nicaragua, all of Costa Rica and Panama (Fig. 15) 
constitute a region of the neotropic province. Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala 
Fig. 15. Parmentiera cerifera Seem., the candle-tree of Panama, growing in the tropie forest 
formation and adorned with candle-like fruits a meter long at all seasons of the year. Alter 
Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien IV 3b, P- 247. 
and south Mexico, south of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec form another region, 
while north Mexico with portions of western Texas, New Mexico and Arizona 
constitute another well defined region. 
The California genera not represented in Mexico amount approximately 
to 350, where of 77 are peculiar‘). They consist largely of herbaceous plants, 
with additional genera of the Coniferae and Cupuliferae; the latter in the nor th. 
The expression “extensions into South America and the West Indies”, used 
by HEMSLEY, is used for convenience and to avoid ambiguity, though strietly 
speaking the extensions are, as a rule, rather in the opposite direction. The 
ı) HEMSLEv, W. BottinG: Biologia Centrali-Americana, Botany 1886— 1888. IV: 223—235- 
