18 Remarks upon the Geographical 



Bierous white little flowers on the surface of pools and of the 

 still waters of A^ery sluggish rivers, is as often met with by the 

 voyageur in the wilds, as by the sportsman in Canada, v/ho in his 

 search for wild-fowl frequenting water, will stumble upon it often. 

 It may be considered the lily of the frogs ; for where it is, ii-ogs 

 delight to dwell. Its range is most extensive east of the Eocky 

 Mountains, stretching, as it does, from the Arctic circle to South 

 Carolina. It is confined on the east and west only by the Atlan- 

 tic and Pacific oceans, although less abundant on the western side 

 of the continent. Of that strong and rough species, the H. His- 

 pidus, I have specimens from McKenzie Rivei^ It is found else- 

 where throughout Rupert's Land. 



The very general and extensive distribution of some of the most 

 acrid species of this genus has no doubt, like everything else in 

 the constitution of nature, its own wise purposes. The natives 

 are aware of the properties of these plants, and the Doctors or 

 Medicine Men make use of the B. AquatiUs and JR. Sceleratus 

 and others in their practice, but probably without any precise 

 idea as to their peculiar action in the cure of the patient, their 

 knowledge being strictly experimental. It must be admitted, 

 however, that considerable skill is shown by them at times in the 

 healina: of wounds and cure of sores. 



The Caltha Palustris, or Marsh Marigold, as it is called in some 

 parts of England, may be said to cross the Continent, but I am 

 not aware of its having a high northern latitude. 56'' may pos- 

 sibly be the line which it does not pass, that is to say, on the 

 eastern side of the Continent. 



In certain parts of Lower Canada, the Cojytis Trifolia, or Golden 

 Thread, is very plentiful ; but I have not observed it to be so 

 abundant further in the interior, certainly not about Lake Wini- 

 peg. According to Sir John Richardson, it runs north to the 

 parallel of 58°, and Torrey has it from the bogs of Greenland and 

 Labrador. The same able Botanist quotes North West America, 

 (Sitcha, Unalashka,) also as its habitats, from which we see at a 

 glance the wide range of this pleasing little plant, with its small 

 staminate looking petals, and its bright yellow, creeping and 

 useful roots. Two other species, not existing in Canada or 

 Hudson's Bay Territory, are found to the westward, — one, the 

 discovery of the celebrated Menzies on the north west coast, 

 named by Salisbury C. Asplenifolia ; the other, of late introduc- 

 tion to the knowledge of botanists, the Coptis Occidentalis of 



