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ON THE BOTANY OF JAPAN. 



peculiar (Brasenia excepted) to the Atlantic United States and Japan. Add to these 

 the similar cases of other American species (nearly all of them peculiarly Atlantic- 

 American) which have been detected in the Himalayas or in Northern Asia, — such as 

 Menispermum Canadense (Dauricum, DC), Amphicarpcea monoica ? Clitoria Mariana, 

 Osmorrhiza hrevistylis, Monotropa iinifiora, Phryina leptostachya, Tipularia discolor ? &c., 

 — and it will be almost impossible to avoid the conclusion, that there has been a 

 peculiar intermingling of the Eastern American and Eastern Asian floras, which de- 

 mands explanation. 



The case might be made yet stronger by reckoning some subgeneric types as equiv- 

 alent to generic in the present view, and by distinguishing those species or genera which 

 barely enter the eastern borders of Europe ; e. g. Cimicifiiga foetida, Moehringia lateri- 

 flora, Geum strictum. Spiraea salicifolia, &c. 



It will be yet more strengthened, and the obvious conclusion will become irresist- 

 ible, when we take the nearly allied, as well as the identical, species into account. 

 And also when we consider that, after excluding the identical species, only 15 per cent 

 of the entries in the European column of the detailed tabular view are in italic type 

 (i. e. are closely representative of Japanese species); while there are 22 per cent of 

 this character in the American column. 



For the latter, I need only advert to some instances of such close representation, as of 



and many others of the same sort, — several of which, when better known, may yet 

 prove to be conspecific ; while an equally large number could be indicated of species 

 which, although more positively different, are yet no less striking counterparts. 



To demonstrate the former proposition, I have only to contrast the extra-American 

 genera common to Europe and Japan with the extra-European genera common to 

 North America and Japan. The principal European genera of this category are 

 Adonis, Epimedium, Chelidonium, Malachium, Lotus, Anthrisctis, Hedera, Asjyerula, 

 Rubia, Carpesium, Ligularia, Lampsana, Picris, Poederota, Ajuga, Thpmis, Nepeta, 

 Lamitim, Ligustrum, Kochia ? Daphne, Thesium, Bttxus, Mercurialis, Cephalanthera, 

 Paris, Asparagus, — to which may as well be added Pceonia and Bupleurum, the former 

 having a representative on the mountains, and the latter in the arctic regions, of Western 



