PTPER—-FLORA OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON. 47 
That this strip of Sitka spruce should be considered Humid Tran- 
sition rather than Canadian or Hudsonian is open to question, 
Accompanying the spruce throughout all or nearly all of its range, 
are some other plants, such as Pébes laxiflorum, Moneses uniflora, 
Menziesia ferruginea, Cornus canadensis, and Viola glabella, which 
in the Cascade Mountains occur mainly or only in the Canadian or 
Hudsonian zones. 
On the other hand, it is very evident that the great majority of 
the plants in the Sitka spruce forests of Washington are truly Tran- 
sition plants. Indeed, some of the most characteristic of the under- 
shrubs of the red-fir forests are even more luxuriantly developed 
in the spruce forests, such as the salal (Gaultheria shallon), red 
huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium), and the evergreen huckleberry 
(V. ovatum). Some others, as the salmon berry (Rubus spectabilis) 
and the devil’s club (chinopanax horrida), accompany the spruce 
throughout nearly all of its range, and likewise occur in the Cascade 
Mountains far above it in altitude. , 
Other facts of plant distribution also bear out the conclusion that 
the mixed floral character of the ocean coast is due to the remarkably 
equable temperature. One of these is the fact that a number of Alas- 
kan plants follow down the coast with the spruce, but do not follow 
down the mountain ranges. Such are the marsh plants Viola langs- 
dorfti, Nephrophyllidium crista-galli, and Caltha asarifolia; the 
dune plants, Carex macrocephala, and Glehnia littoralis; and Cala- 
magrostis aleutica, Coelopleurum gmelini, which on the Washington 
coast splits into two supposedly different species, Carex cryptocarpa, 
Conioselinum fischeri, and Ammodenia peploides. 
On the other hand, the northward extension of various Californian 
coastal plants overlaps the southward extension of these Alaskan 
species. Among these are ilbronia latifolia and A. umbellata, 
Angelica hendersoni, Gaertneria chamissonis, Myrica californica, 
and Pentacaena ramosissima, 
Perhaps, too, the peculiar conditions of this coastal strip may aid 
in explaining the local abundance of Pinus contorta, which otherwise 
reappears principally in the lodge-pole forests of the Canadian zone. 
The zonal position of the Sitka spruce itself is a difficult matter to 
decide. Undoubtedly it reaches its greatest development as to size 
on the Washington and Oregon coasts, but on the Alaska coast it 
reaches its greatest development as regards number of individuals 
and domination of the forest. 
ARID TRANSITION AREA. 
In Washington this is confined entirely to the eastern portion, 
except, perhaps, a few limited localities west of the Cascades. here- 
tofore discussed. In our limits this area has two marked subdivi- 
