natural regions, upon which botanists are by no means agT among themselves, to consider apart, in order to give a general idea of their vegetable products, the five geographical divisions of the whole world—Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Australia.

EvRope.. We can distinguish in Europe three great botanical regions. 1. The region of the North. 2. The Middle region. And 3. The region,of the South, or Mediterranean.

The Northern region comprehends Lapland, Iceland, the northern provinces of Sweden, of N orway, and of Russia. ibe vegetation there is monotonous, with little variety. The ligneous species form only one hundredth part of the plants we find there. The cryptogamous plants predominate. The trees are _ principally represented by Conifers and Amentales, with ome

slight and accidental exceptions. The Oaks, the Hazel, and Poplar are arrested at the sixtieth degree of latitude north; the Beech, the Ash, and the Lime at 63°; the Conifers grow up to 67°; Barley and Oats can be cultivated up to the seventieth parallel

Fig. 446. Norwegian Fjords.

north. Spitzbergen, the most northerly island in Europe, situated between 76° 30’ and 81° north latitude, contains only ninety-three species of phanerogamous plants, belonging principally to the families of Graminex, the Myrtacex, a few Crucifere, Saxifrages, Ranunculaceee, and some Synantheracesw, Among these plants there is scarcely a single tree or shrub, but only an under-shrub,,. E'mpetrum nigrum, and two small creeping Willows. Some idea: of Norway, with its deeply intersecting fjords, may be gathered from the engraving; Fig. 446

Mr. Charles Mavtins: the thsiainit Professor of the F aculty of

$24 THE VEGETABLE WORLD.

Montpelier, to whom Botanical Geography is indebted for many fine observations, made a voyage along the western coast of Norway, from Drontheim to North Cape, in recording which he has traced with a vigorous hand the picturesque vegetation of that country. “On the 28th of June,” he says, “we arrived at Drontheim. While embarking I was much surprised to sce Cherry-trees bearing fruit about the size of peas. Lilac, the Mountain Ash, the Black Currant Bush, and the Iris germanica wete covered with expanding flowers. My astonishment ceased, however, when I learnt that the spring had been a very fine one. The most common tree in the gardens and streets of the town is the Mountain Ash. I remarked also four Oaks (Quercus robur), which appeared to suffer from the cold. In short, upon the west coast of Norway the northern limit of the oak lies half a degree south of Drontheim. ‘The Ash is a more hardy tree, but it never attains the dimensions of the Oak in Sweden, and in latitude 69° 18 I noted the last of them. The Lime lives at Drontheim, as does the Poplar, the Blue Melilot, and the Chestnut-tree. The Common Lilac blooms in every garden. All fruit-trees are cultivated on espaliers. Even on the most favoured exposures, the apple, pear, and plum do not ripen every year. In the environs of Drontheim bouquets are formed of Elder blossom, of Birch blossom, and Fir tops, intermingling with the Ash, Maple, and Aspen; Cherry blossom, Hazels, and Junipers crown the pyramid. The upper fields are dry and well exposed, while the meadows occupy the lower ground. This fine fresh landscape has something exceedingly pleasing about it, although severe and cold.:

“Towards the north I pushed on to Cape Ladehamer, which is crowned with light foliaged Birches. On the east is the cascade of Leerfes, where the accumulated waters of the Nidelven precipitate themselves over the rocks in the middle of a black forest of ines. I arrived there at midnight. The sun and its surrounding rays, which mingled together on the horizon, projected a hazy doubtful light upon the landscape, for at this period of the year the sun scarcely sinks beneath the horizon in this latitude, and the scattered lights which burn in the heavens towards the north already announce that it will soon reappear.

“In the fields and by the roadsides I found a great many plants which occupy similar situations in France.” ‘ Nevertheless,” he continues farther on, “the eye of a botanist was rejoiced by the sight of a vegetation belonging at once to the flora of the Boreal regions, of the Alps, and of the sea-shore.”’ Among the shrubs he discovers the Geranium sylvaticum, the Alpine Columbine, the Aconitum septentrionale, the Pedicularis of Lapland, the Trientalis Europea, the four-leaved Paris. In the more sheltered places were the Dogberry of Sweden, the Vac-cineum vitis idea, the renowned viviparous Alpine Pea; in the marshes the Bilberry, the Avens, or Herb Bennett of the brooks; upon the sandy sea-shore the Water Plantain (Triglochin maritimum), and many others equally interesting to the botanist.

In the first days of July the traveller reached Heldringen, a post town situated on the borders of Northland and the Government of Drontheim, under latitude 65° 15’. He scaled a mountain whose denuded summit was 2,100 feet above the level of the sea. Its vegetation resembled that of the summit of the Alps. The Willow and the Diapensia of Lapland alone reminded him that he was in Norway. “ At Bodoé, in 67° 16,” he continues, “I saw for the first time houses covered with turf, upon which grew many tufts of grass. According to my custom, I first examined the cultivated vegetables, but I saw only a few Potatoes, Peas, Radishes, a few Gooseberry-trees without fruit, and some fields of Barley and Rye. “In the meadows just above the sea-level I found some plants which would have demonstrated to me, in the absence of other _ proofs, how much the climate of this country approaches that of the most elevated Alpine regions. This was the eight petalled Dryas, Silene acaulis, Arctostap/ylos Alpina, Ladies’ Mantle, and the Bartsia of the Alps; and beside them, those vegetables of the northern regions which are unknown in Alpine regions, namely, Aconitum septentrionalis, the white Draba, the Tofieldia Alpina. Besides these, notwithstanding the difference of climate, some of the plants which are most common in the neighbourhood of Paris are found here, as the Dandelion, the Coltsfoot, Tussilago, the Meadow Cardamum (C. pratensis), the Dog’s-tooth Violet; they

seemed a souvenir of France thrown at random in the midst of this Borean vegetation.” He arrived finally at Hammerfest, which is under 70° 48' north latitude. Here all attempts at cultivation had disappeared. The energies of the place are turned to commerce; it is from curiosity rather than for profit or utility that a few legumes are cultivated.” © “ Near the city,” adds the Professor, “‘I observed rich meadows, that were cut once a year, and some herds of half-wild reindeer, which grazed and roamed about freely. We shall deceive ourselves, however, if we consider Hammerfest a dull or melancholy city. Its principal street, on the contrary, consists of very fair new wooden houses, well ordered, and in all respects comfortable. These are the habitations’of the better class of inhabitants. The

houses of the lower classes are poorer and older; borrowing, however, a particular charm from the flowery turf with which they are covered. The roofs are formed of great squares of turf, on which a number of plants have germinated and grow vigorously. In seeing these aerial gardens I have for the first time been able to comprehend the phrase ‘ iz textis,’ which often occurs in the writings of Linnzeus, indicative of the locality. In short, it was upon the. roofs of houses that the learned Botanist of Upsal herborised at Hammerfest; indeed, I frequently borrowed a ladder —: myself from the proprietor in order to gather the plants which-grew round the chimney of one of these picturesque old houses. What I often found there were Cochlearea Anglica, Lychnis sylvestris, Chrysanthemum inodora, Shepherd’s Purses, Th/aspi, and Field and Meadow Peas. In autumn, when the yellow flowers of Chrysanthemum inodorata are in full bloom, these hanging meadows | rival in beauty those of our own more genial climate, and give the | city a smiling physiognomy which contrasts most happily with the severe aspect of surrounding nature. The Ranunculus glacialis, — Arabis Alpina, Silene acaulis, the Snowy Saxifrage, a few Bilberries, the Drapensia of Lapland, some dwarf Willows, as Sali@ reticulata, herbacea, &e., ail grow in the neighbourhood.”

The learned traveller finally reaches North Cape, in latitude er? “How great was my surprise on landing,” he continues, “ to find —: myself in the middle of the richest subalpine meadows that can be imagined! High and tufted grass, which reached my knees.

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 presented 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 Pedicularis 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 laponnica, and the opposite-leaved Saxifrage.

as THE VEGETABLE WORLD.

The Middle European region includes all the countries which constitute the southern provinces of Europe—Germany, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, the Tyrol, and the British Isles, Upper Italy, and the greater part of France. This region, whose exact limits it would be difficult to trace, is very different from the preceding. It is milder, more temperate; its woods and forests consist essentially of the Common Oak (Quercus robur), to which - we may add the Chestnut-tree, the Beech, and the Birch, the Elm, the Hornbeam, the Alder, &c; but the Oak predominates. Those trees, all of which lose their leaves during winter, give to the landscape a very peculiar feature, varying with the season. This region is especially favourable to the cultivation of the Cereals. An oblique line, drawn from the east to west, with certain inflections of its course, but ranging between the forty-seventh and forty-eighth parallel, and inclining a little towards the north, would divide the two zones—one, the Northern, in * which the Vine and the Mulberry yield to the rigour of winter, whose forests are chiefly composed of Conifers, where the culture of the Apple and the Pear take their place, and which includes more of the Cyperacex, of the Rosacew, and of the Crucifers; the other, the Southern, characterised by the culture of the Vine, the Mulberry, and the Maize, and in which plants of the Labiate begin to predominate. Some idea of the vege- — tation of this region will be gathered from Plate XIX., which represents the banks of the Loire in the glory of its summer vegetation. In the Southern European region the Mediterranean facedthe centre. It is a vast basin, whose shores present a vegetation | which, if not identical, is at least analogous in its whole extent. The Labiatexe: abound there, and in certain seasons the air is filled with their sweet perfume. To this extensive family we may add — a large number of Caryophyllacese, Cistaces, Liliacex, and Borraginex. The Mediterranean draws its most distinctive character, however, from the vast extent of uncultivated country, — where the Kermes Oak, the Phyllereas, the Evergreen Oak, and various Labiatew, half frutescent, reign supreme. These plants more especially abound in Italy, Spain, Greece, Algeria, and in the northern portion of Asia Minor. Nevertheless a new vege-

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