40 



OUTLINE OF PLANT GEOGRAPHY 



club" (Echinopanax horrida), whose great leaves and scarlet ber- 

 ries are highly ornamental, but whose hideously spiny stems, are 

 the terror of the woodsman, and amply justify the popular name. 

 This plant, and a huge aroid {Lijsichitori), also occur in eastern 

 Asia, and emphasize the relations between the floras of Kamt- 

 chatka and Alaska. 



Thickets of a big horse-tail (Eqaisetum telmateia) also an old- 

 world species, are common in low ground, and Sphagnum bogs, 



Fig. 6. — Interior of Alaskan coastal forest. At right, Sitka spruce; at left, 



"devil's club." 



with their characteristic flora, are a common feature of the 

 region. 



The change in the vegetation as one leaves the rainy coastal 

 belt and proceeds inland, is very marked. This is very clearly 

 seen along the railway over the White Horse Pass between Skag- 

 way and White Horse on the Yukon. 



As the train ascends from Skagway, following the canyon of 

 the Skagway River, there is at first the luxuriant growth of trees 

 and shrubs characteristic of this coastal region — spruces, cedars, 



