58s 



ZONES AND REGIONS [Pt. Ill, Sect. II 



These more southern forests of Northern Asia, in accordance with the 

 climate, possess a flora of different character from, and greater luxuriance 

 than, the Siberian forest, but only in a few places have they the character 

 of high-forest. On the contrary, over many territories a park-like cha- 

 racter prevails : — for instance in Kamchatka, where, according to Kittlitz' 

 Atlas, most luxuriant meadows alternate with dense patches of broad- 

 leaved and coniferous woods ; in the southern part of Saghalin (Figs. 

 237, 324-327), as opposed to the decidedly Siberian character of the 

 northern part (Figs. 322, 323) ; and finally in the district of the Amur. 



Fig. 323. Tree-limit in Saghalin : stunted larch-trees. From a photograph by Krasnov. 



The eastern Asiatic summer-forest attains its richest development in 

 Nippon, where, contrasting with European forest and agreeing with that of 

 North America, it consists of a rich profusion of many woody species, only 

 a few of which, such as beech and oak, rarely form close woods. In its 

 physiognomy it recalls the rain-forest, by the extensive development of its 

 underwood and of herbaceous plants often as tall as a man, by some large 

 lianes, and by epiphytic ferns. This luxuriance of growth, exceptional in 

 broad-leaved woods of cold-winter climes, is due to numerous atmospheric 



