On the Himalaya, and on the isolated mountain ranges of the peninsula of
India, on the heights of Ceylon, and on the volcanic cones of Java, many
plants occur either identically the same or representing each other, and at
the same time representing plants of Europe not found in the intervening
hot lowlands. A list of the genera of plants collected on the loftier
peaks of Java, raises a picture of a collection made on a hillock in
Europe. Still more striking is the fact that peculiar Australian forms are
represented by certain plants growing on the summits of the mountains of
Borneo. Some of these Australian forms, as I hear from Dr. Hooker, extend
along the heights of the peninsula of Malacca, and are thinly scattered on
the one hand over India, and on the other hand as far north as Japan.
On the southern mountains of Australia, Dr. F. Muller has discovered
several European species; other species, not introduced by man, occur on
the lowlands; and a long list can be given, as I am informed by Dr. Hooker,
of European genera, found in Australia, but not in the intermediate torrid
regions. In the admirable "Introduction to the Flora of New Zealand," by
Dr. Hooker, analogous and striking facts are given in regard to the plants
of that large island. Hence, we see that certain plants growing on the
more lofty mountains of the tropics in all parts of the world, and on the
temperate plains of the north and south, are either the same species or
varieties of the same species.
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