GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS. 527 
I found here, in short, at the northern extremity of Europe, the 
flowers which had so often attracted my admiration at the foot of 
. the Swiss Alps; there they were, as vigorous, as brilliant, and all 
much larger than among the mountains. The Globe Flower of 
Europe (Trollius Europeus), the Alchemilla Alpina, Geranium of 
the Woods, the Alpine Hawkweed, Hieracium Alpinum, Phleam 
Alpinum, and the Alpine Pea. On the right rises the imposing 
mass of North Cape, steep aud inaccessible; before us a steep and 
sloping, but verdant path, which permitted us to attain the 
summit by winding round the side of the mountain. In the 
descent I gathered with enthusiasm all the plants which pre- 
sented themselves; to me they possessed a peculiar interest as 
being, so to speak, the most robust and adventurous of all their 
European congeners. They seemed, like myself, to be expatriated, 
and exposed on this black rock to be battered by the waves. Iwas 
tempted to ask them why they had quitted the skirts of the culti- _ 
vated fields and peaceful shades of the woods of Meudon, where 
they could receive the homage of Parisian Botanists, in order to 
lead this exposed life among strangers? They were the Meadow 
Queen, the Cerastium of the fields, Shepherd’s Purse, Dandelion 
leontodum, Golden Verge, &c. Nevertheless the Boreal or Alpine 
plants were in the majority on these slopes. I found there Pedi- 
cularis laponnica, Salix reticularis, the Snowy Gentian, Cornus 
alba, the Dogwood-tree of Sweden, &c. 
“The loftiest summit of North Cape is 1,020 feet above the 
level of the sea; it is surmounted by a small rock, on which 
“many visitors have engraved their names. But even this last 
_ rock was not destitute of all vegetation ; the small circular leaves 
of Parmelia saxitilis, one of the Lichens, black as the rock, were 
attached to it, and a small microscopic moss hid itself in the 
clefts upon the plateau. There were a few miserable looking plants 
which had been destroyed by the winds, scattered on the ground 
and seeking shelter behind such elevations of the soil as would 
protect them from the continuous squalls which swept the North 
Cape. Among the shrubs I even found the Birch and the Cha- 
meledon procumbens. The herbaceous plants were much less 
numerous. Among them were Silene acaulis, the Diapensia la- 
ponnica, and the opposite-leaved Saxifrage. 
