574 METASPERMAE OF THE MINNESOTA VALLEY. 



Tail county and sparingly into Dakota. On the south it is 

 bounded by the high land of the Coteau des Prairies. The 

 greater portion of the basin consists of rolling prairies inter- 

 sected by numerous sluggish streams, but along the northern 

 edge and in a considerable part of the far northwestern and 

 the eastern and southeastern areas the basin includes the 

 characteristic hills of a terminal or median moraine, and for 

 the most part these hills are clothed with growths of hard- 

 wood timber. The Minnesota valley lies outside of the great 

 lake belt of the state, which runs just north of its border, but 

 a large number of lakes are found within its limits. These 

 lakes are most abundant in the far northwestern, eastern and 

 southeastern portions of the basin and are least abundant in 

 the western, central western and southwestern portions. 



Distribution of forest and prairie. The streams of the 

 basin are generally wooded along their courses and the great 

 gorge of the river is heavily timbered as far up as Montevideo. 

 The northern bluffs are much more sparsely clothed with forest 

 than the southern and for long distances between Mankato 

 and Montevideo are either altogether bare of timber or but 

 scantily covered in comparison with the bluffs across 

 the river. The headwater regions of the Pomme de 

 Terre and Chippewa rivers are wooded and the northern 

 edge of the basin shows frequent incursions of the northern 

 forest belt. The only coniferous tree which reaches the valley 

 is the larch or tamarack — Larix americana — and only a few of 

 the characteristic tamarack swamps occur in the valley. The 

 northeastern and eastern portions of the valley are within the 

 limits of the hardwood forest. Such portions of the basin as 

 lie in the counties of Hennepin, Carver, Scott, Rice, Le Sueur 

 and Sibley are for the most part timbered and a part of the 

 area in Blue Earth, Waseca and Nicollet counties belongs to 

 the same forest belt. This belt extends somewhat more than 

 ten miles southwest of Mankato and up the Le Sueur river be- 

 yond Waseca. It gradually fades out into the prairie regions 

 south and west. 



Such being the general distribution of forest and prairie it 

 is apparent that the various intermediate conditions will pre- 

 vail along the demarcation lines between the two main plant 

 physiognomic formations. Meadows, marshes, swamps and 

 bogs are not infrequent, being especially abundant in the bot- 

 tomland of the main stream in that portion lying between 

 Mankato and Fort Snelling. In the prairies of the valley 



