NORTH AMERICA. 



71 



yellow water-lily (Nuphar advena), the vallisneria Americana, famous as the food of the canvass- 

 back ducks, the pickerel-weed {^Pontederia cordata), &IjC. 



Arroio Head. Mldte Water Lily. Yelloio Water Lily. Pickerel Weed. Lupine. 



Several grasses of peculiar forms, numerous rushes (junci), the large and beautiful wild-rice (Zi- 

 zania aquatica), some carices, &c. are among the gramineous plants. The numerous ferns are all 

 different from those of the eastern continent. 



In the more southern regions (35° lat. to 25°) the number of species increases, and the vegetation 

 becomes more peculiar; most of the plants of the last-described section being found here, with many 

 that are confined to the warmer skies. The climbing plants are numerous, including numerous 

 clematis, vines, passifloras, tillandsias (long moss), &-c. Among the herbaceous and smaller plants 

 are several lupines, sarracenias, gentians, the fly-trap [Diuncea muscipula), which takes its name 

 from its curious apparatus for catching insects, the sun-dews (drosera), asarums, amaiyllis, the su- 

 perb yuccas, the beautiful gerardias, parietarias, and numerous others. Aquatic plants abound, such 

 as the magnificent nelumbium, nnphar, lobelias, &-c., and the cane, a gigantic grass {^Sliegia macro- 

 sperma), occupies extensive tracts. 



Venus' Fly Trap. Sun Dew. 



The prairies have a vegetation in many respects peculiar, and various grasses hold sway over these 

 broad fields ; it would be impossible here to enumerate these, and the numerous flowering plants 

 West of the Rocky Mountains we enter a new bocanical region, distinguished by its characteristic 

 trees, shrubs, and smaller plants, but having some species common with the eastern part of the con 

 tinent, and others with the opposite shores of Asia. 



The approach to a tropical climate is first indicated by fields of cotton and rice. These 

 southern countries, the climate of which is increased in heat and humidity far beyond that of 

 corresponding latitudes in other parts of the world, present a complete mixture of the vej^eta- 

 ble productions of Mexico and the northern States. Along with the principal part of the plants 

 of Virginia and Kentucky, we have not only the cotton, the indigo, and the sugar-cane, as 

 articles of cultivation, but the planes and the deciduous cypress acquire gigantic dimensions. 



