THE NORTH TEMPERATE ZONE 



117 



severe weather conditions of eastern Montana, intense cold, great 

 summer heat, and scanty rainfall; hence the vegetation of the 

 exposed areas is decidedly xerophytic. 



There are several lakes, more or less protected by the surrounding 

 mountains, and about these, and in sheltered canyons, there is a 



Fig. 27. — Coniferous forest, Glacier National Park, Montana. 



hemlock; right, western white pine. 



Left, western 



fairly luxuriant forest in which Douglas fir and Engelmann spruce 

 predominate. Both of these trees descend to a much lower eleva- 

 tion than in Colorado, and the same is true of the limber-pine 

 which becomes a fair sized tree, while usually it is a high mountain 

 species of low and spreading habit. Some of the drier areas are 

 occupied by nearly pure stands of lodge-pole pine, and low junipers 

 grow on the exposed hillsides, where there is often a dense scrub 

 or chaparral composed of a variety of shrubs. These include two 



