Geor graphical Botany of the United States. 1 1 



the 124th degree of west longitude from London ; its extreme 

 length being 2780 English miles ; its greatest breadth 1300 miles, 

 and its area about 2,300,000 square miles— That this immense 

 territory is traversed by two great chains of mountains, in a direc- 

 tion approaching to north and south: the Alleghanies on the east side, 

 and the Rocky Mountains on the west ; the former varying in height 

 from 2500 to 4000 feet, the latter reaching the height of 12,000 

 feet— thus dividing the whole territory into three regions, the east- 

 ern, the western, and the middle ; the latter comprising the great 

 basin or valley of the Mississippi. 



By an inspection of the earth's surface, it is found that those 

 plants which possess the lowest degree of organization, are most 

 extensively disseminated. Those which are placed on the very 

 confines of vegetable life, and are almost blended with inorganic 

 nature, are distributed every where upon the earth, when circum- 

 stances favourable to their production occur. Of this number we 

 may mention the Fungi, the Alga- and the Lichens, which are 

 found in countries the most distant from each other, and at different 

 distances from the equator. " Europe and New-Holland," accord- 

 ing to Robert Brown, " have a number of Lichens, almost indeed 

 two-thirds of those which have hitherto been discoverd in New- 

 Holland, of the same species with those that exist in Europe. Of 

 the hepatic and frondose Mosses, nearly one-third belong equally 

 to New-Holland and to Europe. And with respect to the Alga, 

 not only Confervas, but Fuci, are common to the most distant seas. 

 Laminaria Jigarum, Lam. for instance, is found in Greenland, in 

 Hudson's Bay, in Kamschatka, and in the Indian Ocean. Haly- 

 drys siliquosa, Lyngb. Sphoerococcus ciliatus, Ag. and many oth- 

 ers, have a distribution equally extensive." (DeCandolle and 

 SprengeVs Elements of the Philosophy of Plants, p. 265.) 



So far as we are acquainted with the Cryptogamous plants of our 

 own country, they offer no exception to the remarks just offered. 

 Not only do the Fungi, the Algse and the Lichens of the different 

 parts resemble each other, but many of the Hepatici and Mosses are 

 found from one extreme of the continent to the other. But it should 

 he remarked, that the Cryptogamous plants of the United States 



furnished for exar utioifc This will be sufficient- 



ly apparent when it is stated, that the number of these plants enu- 

 merated in the second edition of Muhlenberg's Catalogue, in 



