CHAPTER III. 
FLORA. 
Section A.—INDIGENOUS PLANTS. 
Muc# which might have found an appropriate place here 
has been brought under consideration in information sup- 
plied in regard to forests and forest trees ; but here a more 
general, and at the same time, a more compreheusive 
aspect of the subject is brought before us. 
The flora of Finland, and especially that of the eastern 
portion and of the interior of the country, Dr Helms says 
has not yet been thoroughly studied, and there are many 
interesting phenomena which it presents. For example, 
plants grow in the southern districts which are not found 
in the midland districts, but which are suddenly again met 
with in the high northern Jatitudes, for which, says he, 
no satisfactory reason has yet been assigned. 
Scandinavia, he goes on’ to say, is indebted in a great 
measure to its hills and rocks for the variety seen in its 
flora. From her mountain ranges branch off lesser spurs 
extending through the coast districts,and determining the 
watersheds, and bordering the rivers and streams. The 
vegetation of the hills, of the valleys, and of the coast, 
is in consequence of this, and that more especially in 
Sweden, constantly changing. Finland, and more especi- 
ally its western coast lands, which are those nearest to 
Sweden, does not present the same variety. 
In North-Eastern Finland, where the rocky regions may 
be said to commence, the vegetable world exists only as in 
a death struggle for existence. These circumstances, and 
the further extension of the. Scandinavian peninsula from 
