406 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
tion. In regard to this point Schouw (1) (1823), who mapped 
the earth’s surface into kingdoms and provinces on the basis of 
families peculiar to each region, made a “Province of Carex” 
which he located in the region of the Arctic Circle. 
Meyen (2) (1836) regarded Gramineous plants as. an im¬ 
portant physiognomic class and noted that the low meadow 
forming grasses are characteristic of colder regions while 
grasses of the tropics are chiefly of larger or gigantic size. 
“Meadows,” he says, “are an ornament of northern regions.” 
These general statements of Schouw and Meyen in regard 
to sod forming grasses and sedges, are accepted by Grisebach 
(3) (1872) who makes the additional observation that one tenth 
of all the vascular plants of the Arctic regions belong to the 
genus Carex. He notes that the Carices predominate on the 
more poorly drained areas while sod forming grasses prevail 
on the better drained areas. In his discussion of the forest 
areas of both the Eastern and the Western Continents he states 
that there is also present in the same latitude a series of meadow 
formations depending on the drainage conditions just as there 
is in the Arctic regions. 
Coming to the more recent students of plant geography, 
Drude (7) (1890) distinguishes more closely between meadows, 
as composed largely of grasses, and meadow moors composed 
largely of sedges, the latter with a peaty substratum having a 
high water content. His classification of these low moist sod 
formations is as follows: 
A, Dormant during winter; during the warm seasons grow¬ 
ing and green, composed of low growing shrubs and herbs, and 
moss; trees are absent, and turf is compact— 
a Principally grasses with short sward: Meadows, 
h Principally of sedges, reed grasses with short sward grow¬ 
ing on peaty marshy soil: Grass moors. Meadow moors. 
In this distinction the emphasis is placed on the character of 
the vegetation. Drude again emphasizes the fact that of the 
three thousand species of Cyperaceae relatively few are found 
in the tropics, the genus Carex being characteristically circum¬ 
polar in its distribution. He also describes Carex strict a as an 
