PIPER FLORA OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON, 47 



That this strip of Sitka spruce should be considered Humid Tran- 

 sition rather than Canadian or Hudsonian is open to question. 

 Accompanying the spruce throughout all or nearly all of its range, 

 are some other plants, such as Ribes laxi-fioruTn^ Moneses imi'fiora^ 

 Menziesia ferruginea, Gornus canadensis^ and Viola glabella^ which 

 in the Cascade Mountains ocotir mainly or only in the Canadian or 

 Hudsonian zones. 



On the other hand, it is very evident that the great majority of 

 the plants in the Sitka spruce forests of Washington are truly Tran- 

 sition plants. Indeed, some of the most characteristic of the under- 

 shrubs of the red-fir forests are even more luxuriantly develo^jd 

 in the spruce forests, such as the salal {Gaultheria shallon), retl 

 huckleberry {Vaccinium par vi folium), and the evergreen huckleberry 

 (F. ovatum). Some others, as the salmon berry {Ruhus spectabilis) 

 and the devil's club {E chinopanax horrida), accompany the spruce 

 throughout nearly all of its range, and likewise occur in the Cascade 

 Mountains far above it in altitude. 



Other facts of plant distribution also bear out the conclusion that 

 the mixed floral character of the ocean coast is due to the remarkably 

 equable temperature. One of these is the fact that a number of Alas- 

 kan plants follow down the coast with the spruce, but do not follow 

 down the mountain ranges. Such are the marsh plants Viola langs- 

 dorfii, N ephrophyllidiunh crista-galli, and Caltha asarifolia; the 

 dune plants, Carex macrocephala, and Glehnia littoralis; and Gala.- 

 magrostis aleutica, C oelopleurum gmelini, which on the Washington 

 coast splits into two supposedly different species, Carex cryptocarpa, 

 Conioselinum fischeri, and Ammodenia peploides. 



On the other hand, the northward extension of various Californian 

 coastal plants overlaps the southward extension of these Alaskan 

 species. Among these are Abronia latifolia and A. umbellata, 

 Angelica hendersoni, Gaertneria chamissonis, Myrica calif ovri'ica, 

 and Pentacaena ramosissima. 



Perhaps, too, the peculiar conditions of this coastal strip may aid 

 in explaining the local abundance of Pinus contorta, which otherwise 

 reappears principally in the lodge-pole forests of the Canadian zone. 



The zonal position of the Sitka spruce itself is a difficult matter to 

 decide. Undoubtedly it reaches its greatest development as to size 

 on the Washington and Oregon coasts, but on the Alaska coast it 

 reaches its greatest development as regards number of individuals 

 and domination of the forest. 



ARID TRANSITION AREA. 



In Washington this is confined entirely to the eastern portion, 

 except, perhaps, a few limited localities west, of the Cascades, here- 

 tofore discussed. In our limits this area has two marked subdivi- 



