36 OUTLINE OF PLANT GEOGRAPHY 



flowered wintergreen (Moneses), and the " prince's pine" (Chim- 

 aphila). Associated with them are several orchids, e. g., coral-root 

 (Corallorrhiza) and rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera) . Much rarer 

 is the beautiful Calypso borealis. In boggy places one may find 

 another northern orchid, the tway-blade (Listera), and there are 

 many other bog-plants common to the sub-arctic regions of the 

 old and new worlds. Among these may be mentioned the sundews 

 (Drosera) , buck-bean (Menyanthes) , and many grasses, sedges and 

 rushes, as well as the species of Sphagnum and other mosses. 



In the northern part of the sub-arctic, the meadows and woods 

 have many beautiful herbaceous plants. Some of these like He- 

 patica and species of marsh marigold (Caltha palustris), cress 

 (Cardamine), grass of Parnassus (Parnassia) dwarf cornel (Cornus 

 suecica), and willow herb occur in northern Europe and in North 

 America; more commonly the species of the old world and the 

 new are distinct. 



While forests occupy much of the sub-arctic zone, there are 

 extensive tracts of open country, like the prairies of western Can- 

 ada and the steppes of Russia and Siberia. Where moisture is 

 abundant, swamps, bogs and lakes abound. 



Within the sub-arctic zone may be included most of Scandinavia, 

 Northern Russia, most of Siberia, Kamtchatka, Alaska and a 

 large part of Canada and Labrador. 



Like the arctic zone, the sub-arctic reaches its maximum de- 

 velopment in Siberia where it extends, in a broad belt, from the 

 Urals to the Pacific. 1 



The climate throughout this vast region is one of excessively 

 cold winters and moderately warm summers, but shows a con- 

 siderable range in both temperature and moisture. Much of the 

 region is an extension of the great northern plains through which 

 the giant rivers make their way to the Arctic Ocean, very much 

 as in the far north of America. 



To the west are the Urals, and south the great mountain ranges 

 separating Siberia from Turkestan and Mongolia. 



The Siberian flora is a poor one, composed of strictly northern 

 types, many of which are members of the arctic flora. The monot- 

 onous forests of larch and spruce are interspersed with tundras 

 and marsh lands, like those of the true arctic zone. 



? Drude, loc. cit., pp. 412-416. 



