12 MUSEUM BULLETIN NO. 26. 



real alpine meadows, whilst, in the Rockies, similar plant formations are 

 generally met on steep slopes. With regard to the vegetation above 

 the tree-line, it may be said that the differences between the two moun- 

 tain systems are chiefly due to differences in moisture supply, the Sel- 

 kirks being favoured with much more abundant precipation than are the 

 Rockies. For this reason the alpine meadow associations of the Sel- 

 kirks extend almost to the snow-line and, for the same reason, a number of 

 the high alpine plants which, in the Rockies, are characteristic of the 

 bare peaks above the grassy slopes, are not met with at all in the Selkirks. 



The Selkirk forest differs from that of the Rocky Mountains with 

 regard to composition as far as the trees are concerned, the principal 

 species being Thuja plicata, Pseudotsuga mucronata, Tsuga het-'rophylla, 

 T. Mertensiana and Picea Englemanni. The undergrowth is, on the 

 mountains proper, very similar to that of the Rocky Mountains, and 

 although much more luxuriant is not represented by many species. 



In the lower valleys, however, and on lower levels, where the forest 

 is more open in character, the shrubby as well as the herbaceous under- 

 growth is very different. Not only is it luxuriantly developed, but the 

 species of which it is composed are of a different type. The Rocky 

 Mountain flora is disappearing, its place being taken to such an extent 

 by Pacific coast species that the traveller, or the casual observer, will 

 find it rather difficult to detect any marked differences between Xhe flora 

 of the Selkirk valleys and that of the coniferous forest of the Pacific 

 coast. 



The Coast Range. Biologically, the mountains of the Coast range 

 are very similar to those of the Selkirk range. This is to a certain extent 

 also true from a systematic standpoint, as practically all species found in 

 the Selkirks also occur in the Coast range. 



The Coast range, however, although having the bulk of plant species 

 in common with the Selkirks, may be considered a distinct botanical 

 province. The reasons for this are that many species occur which are 

 confined to the coast proper and that the Coast range is the home of a 

 number of what may be considered truly endemic plants, which, as far as 

 is known at present, are very local in their distribution and are found 

 nowhere else in British Columbia. Among those plants may be mentioned 

 especially numerous species of Antennaria, Arnica, Senecio, Aster, 

 Erigeron and other composites. 



Owing to the long growing season, the high average temperature 

 and the abundance of the precipitation, the vegetation in the valleys and 

 the lowlands of the Coast range is almost subtropical in appearance. 

 The trees, especially Thuja, Picea and Pseudotsuga, reach gigantic 

 dimensions, and the forest, no matter how dense, always possesses a very 

 luxuriant undergrowth. In old untouched forests, fallen trunks, 



