106 



NATURALIST'S GUIDE TO THE AMERICAS 



Draba, Saxifraga, Papaver, Epilobium, 

 Drosera, Pinguicula, Silene, Pedicularis, 

 and numerous other arctic vascular 

 plants constitute the more prominent 

 flowers. On the drier slopes Linnaea 

 borealis, Rhododendron lapponicum, Py- 

 rola grandiflora, Campanula, Arnica, 

 Antennaria, Festuca, Trisetum, and 

 Calamagrostis characterize an almost 

 heath-like association of plants. 



The interior plateau as a whole is 

 quite different from the coastal belt, 

 though large areas within the limit of 

 the plateau are composed of similar 

 tundra and tundra-moor vegetation. 



The forest is practically continuous 

 over the southernmost edge of the area 

 described in this report, only the sum- 

 mits of the highest, rockiest hills being 

 bare; but from the 53rd parallel north- 

 ward, all the higher hills are treeless, 

 the size and number of barren areas 

 rapidly increase, and the trees them- 

 selves grow smaller. In latitude 55 

 N. more than half the surface is without 

 trees, forested areas being found only 

 in narrow belts along the streams and 

 lakes, and in moist, sheltered recesses 

 among the hills. The northern limit 

 of trees extends from the mouth of the 

 Nastapoka River on Hudson Bay, to 

 the mouth of Leaf River on Ungava 

 Bay, thence along the south shore of 

 Ungava Bay to the mouth of the George 

 River, thence along the foothills of the 

 Atlantic coast range to Hebron, just 

 north of Cape Mugford and south of 

 Saglek Bay. 



The arborescent flora comprises the 

 following species: 



1. Black spruce (Picea mariana'), the 

 most widely distributed and abundant 

 tree of Labrador, extends to the northern 

 limit of trees and constitutes nine- 

 tenths of the forest. It flourishes on the 

 sandy soils of the Archean complex and 

 grows equally as well on the dry hills 

 of the southern portion as in the boggy 

 land between the ridges. Farther north 

 it grows rank and slim in the valleys, 

 btit on the uplands where it forms open 

 glades, it spreads out like the white 

 spruce. 



2. Balsam fir (Abies balsamea} is a 

 more southerly tree than the black 

 spruce. It grows only along the edges 

 of the waterways and the shores of the 

 larger lakes. Its northern limit is the 

 Great Whale River, and then roughly 

 eastward across the plateau to Hamilton 

 Inlet. 



3. White spruce (Picea alba} is dis- 

 tributed throughout the wooded area 

 but is not so abundant. It is confined 

 to the scattered areas of rearranged 

 drift of the river valleys, the marine 

 deposits of the coast, and to the heavier 

 soils of the interior. Its size and num- 

 ber are thus more dependent upon the 

 soil factor than upon the climate, lati- 

 tude, or altitude. Its northern limit 

 approximates the forest limit. 



4. Tamarack (Larix laricina], the 

 largest and the hardiest tree of the sub- 

 arctic forest belt, grows everywhere 

 over the Labrador Peninsula, next in 

 abundance to black spruce. It fre- 

 quents all the cold bogs; and even to the 

 northern limit of the forest, where the 

 black spruce is a mere shrub, the tama- 

 rack retains its arboreal form and size, 

 though somewhat diminished. 



5. Banksian pine (Pinus divaricata] 

 occupies the southwestern portion of 

 the Labrador Peninsula, south of the 

 Great Whale River and west of a line 

 that roughly corresponds with the 

 seventy-first meridian. It grows on dry 

 sandy ridges and hills, where it is often 

 combined with black spruce to form the 

 second growth on fire-swept reaches. 



6. Canoe birch (Betula papyrifera) 

 grows commonly over the southern 

 portion of the peninsula but is rare and 

 small toward the north. Its northern 

 limit lies to the south of the forest 

 limit, though scattered groups of the 

 trees are found even in the valley of the 

 Koksoak river a few miles above its 

 mouth. 



7. Aspen (Populustremuloides^is found 

 in clumps in the original coniferous 

 forest, and in company with white birch, 

 as second growth in many burned-over 

 areas. It seems most abundant and 

 widely distributed in the western portion 



