THE NORTH TEMPERATE ZONE 83 



much like the American flowering dogwood, syringa (Philadelphia), 

 Deutzia and Weigela. Above all are the azaleas which in the 

 early summer are a blaze of scarlet and crimson. 



Between Chuzenji and Yumoto, between 4,000 and 5,000 feet 

 elevation, are extensive grassy moorlands, which in midsummer 

 are full of beautiful purple and white iris. 



The northern Island, Hokkaido, has a much colder climate, 

 and the general character of the vegetation is astonishingly like 

 that of the northeastern United States. Nearly all the trees, 

 elms, oaks, maples, beeches, magnolias, and others, are very similar 

 to American species, and this is true also of many shrubs and 

 herbaceous plants, some of them being actually identical. Thus 

 the poison ivy (Rhus toxicodendron) is very common and a wild 

 grape (Vitis labrusca) is identical with the American fox-grape. 

 The sensitive fern (Onoclea serisibilis), the maiden-hair fern, and 

 the cinnamon fern, (Osmunda cimmmomea) are old acquaintances, 

 and a long list of other familiar plants could be cited. In many 

 cases, where species are not identical, the Japanese plant has a 

 closely related species in America. Thus our trailing arbutus 

 (Epigaea repens) has its counterpart in the Japanese E. Asiatica. 1 



Japan is rich in coniferous trees, most of which it shares with 

 China. The hemlocks (Tsuga), Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga), and 

 white cedar (Chamaecyparis) of the American forest, also have 

 their representatives in Japan. 



Like the eastern American deciduous forests, those of Japan are 

 magnificent in their autumnal dress. As in America, maples take 

 first place in this display, but sumacs, Ampelopsis, ashes, oaks, 

 elms, and beeches contribute their quota, while the evergreens 

 form a background for the gayly colored deciduous trees. 



Siberia 



Conditions in eastern Siberia are not favorable for tree growth, 

 and the trees are said to be much inferior to those in corresponding 

 latitudes in America. In Kamtchatka and Sachalien, however, 

 conditions are more favorable, and sometimes there is a good 

 growth of forest. 



1 For a full discussion of the remarkable similarities between the vegetation of 

 Japan and Atlantic North America sec Asa Gray's essay on the subject . Scientific 

 Papers of Asa Gray, Vol. II, p. 125, 1889. 



