The appearance of the vegetation is very different from that of the United States, which is comparable to China in situation and in extent. Though there are 60 species of oak in China, many with magnificent foliage and remarkable cupules, the red oaks, so characteristic of North America, with their bristle-pointed leaves, turning beautiful colours in autumn, are quite unknown. The great coniferous forest west of the Rocky Mountains has no analogue in China, the gigantic and preponderant Douglas fir being absent, while the giant _Sequoias_ are represented only on a small scale by _Cryptomeria_, which attains half their height.
Certain remnants of the Miocene flora which have disappeared from Europe are still conspicuous and similar in North America and China. In both regions there are several species of _Magnolia_; one species each of _Liriodendron, Liquidambar_ and _Sassafras_; and curious genera like _Nyssa, Hamamelis, Decumaria_ and _Gymnocladus_. The swamps of the south-eastern states, in which still survive the once widely spread _Taxodium_ or deciduous cypress, are imitated on a small scale by the marshy banks of rivers near Canton, which are clad with _Glyptostrobus_, the "water-pine" of the Chinese. _Pseudolarix, Cunninghamia_ and _Keteleeria_ are coniferous genera peculiar to China, which have become extinct elsewhere. The most remarkable tree in China, the only surviving link between ferns and conifers, _Ginkgo biloba_, has only been seen in temple gardens, but may occur wild in some of the unexplored provinces. Its leaves have been found in the tertiary beds of the Isle of Mull.
Most of the European genera occur in China, though there are curious exceptions like the plane tree, and the whole family of the _Cistaceae_, which characterize the peculiar _maquis_ of the Mediterranean region. The rhododendrons, of which only four species are European, have their headquarters in China, numbering 130 species, varying in size from miniature shrubs 6 in. high to tall trees. _Lysimachia, Primula, Clematis, Rubus_ and _Gentiana_ have each a hundred species, extraordinary variable in habit, in size and in colour of the flowers. The ferns are equally polymorphic, numbering 400 species, and including strange genera like _Archangiopteris_ and _Cheiropteris_, unknown elsewhere. About 40 species of bamboos have been distinguished; the one with a square stem from Fu-kien is the most curious.