NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



171 



zone (marginal ditch), found around 

 nearly all sphagnum bogs. 



e. Salt marshes are common along the 

 shores of Puget Sound and elsewhere 

 along salt water. Many of them are lo- 

 cated near the mouths of streams or 

 behind high sea beaches. Nearly all of 

 them are inundated by salt water at ex- 

 treme high tide, and many of them are 

 under water at even ordinary high tides. 

 Glass-wort and saltgrass are the most 

 abundant species. The former is com- 

 monly infested with dodder [Cuscuta 

 squaviigera) . Other species frequently 

 found in these marshes are seaside 

 atriplex (Atriplix littoralis), a fleshy 

 composite {Jaumea carnosa), black slat 

 wort {Glaux maritima), and seaside ar- 

 row grass {Triglochin maritima). The 

 higher sea beaches fronting many of 

 these marshes commonly have a charac- 

 teristic seaside flora which does not 

 extend much into the salt marsh proper. 

 Among the plants occurring on these 

 beaches are the beach pea {Lathyrus 

 maritimus) , sand spurry [Tissa marina), 

 sand-bur and a hog-fennel {Lomatium 

 nudicaule) . 



f. Sand dunes are abundant on the 

 ocean coast but do not occur on Puget 

 Sound. They shift rapidly, over- 

 whelming forests, many of which are 

 almost pure stands of lodgepole pine. 

 Among the plants characteristic of these 

 dunes and other shifting sand along the 

 shore are two al)ronias {Abroiiia acuta- 

 lata, and shaggy pea {Lathvrus littoralis), 

 a lupine {Lupinus littoralis), a sedge 

 (Carex macropcephala) , Glchnia littoralis 

 and many others. 



g. There may also be distinguished a 

 coastal strip of forest in which Sitka 

 spruce largely replaces Douglas fir. 

 Lodgepole pine is also common in places, 

 especially around sand dunes and bogs. 

 Among the other plants characteristic of 

 this strip are fool's huckleberry, a currant 

 and the single beauty (Moneses unijiora) . 



2. Arid coniferous forest {western yellow 

 pine forest) 



a. Plants. These forests occupy the 

 lower portion of the eastern slope of 



the Cascades, the lower levels of the 

 Blue mountains, and nearly all of the 

 northern portion of eastern Washing- 

 ton, including considerable portions of 

 Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens and Pend 

 Oreille counties. Western yellow pine 

 is the dominant tree, though some 

 Douglas fir occurs. Among its shrubs 

 are nine bark {Opulaster vauciflorus) , 

 buck brush [Ceanothus sanguineus) and 

 rose (Rosa gymnocarpa). In the higher 

 altitudes huckleberry {Vaccinium macro - 

 plnjllum) and pine grass are common in 

 these forests. 



b. Animals. The mammals of the 

 yellow pine forests of eastern Washing- 

 ton are to a considerable extent an 

 admixture of elements from the montane 

 forests and from the bunch grass. 

 Among the more conspicuous forms are 

 the coj'ote (Conis lestes), deer-mouse, 

 pocket-gopher, ground-squirrel [Citel- 

 lus), chipmunk (Entamias), golden- 

 mantled ground-squirrel (Callospermo- 

 philus), and pine squirrel. — 



In the yellow pine forests of the 

 eastern part of the state the bull-snake 

 [Pituophis catenifer caienifer) and the 

 racer both occur while garter-snakes 

 are found chiefly along streams and the 

 rattle-snake {Crotalus oreganus) chiefly 

 in rocky places. 



3. Mixed mountain forest {Canadian 

 Zone) 



This ecotone type extends upward 

 from the dense mesophytic coniferous 

 forest to about 6000 ft. This belt is 

 poorly defined, since few species are 

 confined to it alone. It forms a continu- 

 ous area in the Olympics and the Cas- 

 cades and is also found adjacent to the 

 subalpine belt where it occurs in eastern 

 Washington, as well as in a considerably 

 area in Ferry County. Among the 

 trees found in this belt in western 

 Washington are western white pine 

 lodgepole pine (murrayana), grand fir, 

 western hemlock, Douglas fir, silver 

 fir {Abies amabalis) and noble fir (.1. 

 nobilis), while in eastern Washington. 

 Engelmann spruce and western larch 

 replace the last two species. Among the 



