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Origins of North American flora
The natural flora that surrounds us has been influenced by many factors, including the geological development of the continents themselves. Over time, with the movement of landmasses separating and coming back together again, natural bridges forming and disappearing plants have evolved in North America at times independently and at other periods intermingled with the flora of other continents.
Millions of years ago, the continents of North America, Europe and Asia were connected, sharing plant life as well as broad climatic characteristics and soil types. Even after the continents drifted apart, large areas of North America remained lowland, with fairly similar rainfall patterns over the entire continent, so that much of the flora corresponded to that found in the similar climates of Europe and Asia. (By contrast, the vegetation of the Southern Hemisphere, which developed in isolation, is markedly different.) Gradually, however, the flora of North America developed in unique ways, as it responded to an increasingly dry landscape, caused by both climate change and the rain shadows of emerging mountains, and to increasing isolation.
In damper areas of the USA and Canada, old links to the flora of other northern continents can still be seen. For example, in areas such as the East Coast, many species, including numerous forest trees, are closely related to species in Europe and Asia. Liquidambars, inhabiting the summer wet forests of Mexico and the eastern USA and north into Canada, have counterpart species in Asia. In the far north, plants like Juniperus communis are known as circumboreal, meaning that the same species can be found inhabiting similar niches in all three of the major northern hemisphere landmasses.
In contrast, areas of North America with unique or isolated rock formations, soil types, or climates, especially those that appeared after the landmasses separated now possess flora known as endemic, or unique to the area. The cactus family, for example, began its formation in the West, in the dry rain shadow areas of mountains or the early North American deserts, and is found only within the new worlds of North and South America.
This oversimplified version of millions of years of geological history serves principally to illustrate that in every region of the country, when we look out of our windows, each of us sees a different landscape, with specific plants and associations. Each one, however, is integrally connected with all the rest.