THE FLORA 407 



typical situations, each with its own peculiar aspect. We 

 may conveniently divide these into the areas of forest, of 

 sea-shore, and of the tundra, and the latter again into sev- 

 eral subdivisions. 



1. The forest region is best described by Low. 1 He says : 



"The southern half of the Labrador Peninsula is included 

 in the subarctic forest belt, as described by Professor Ma- 

 coun. Nine species of trees may be said to constitute the 

 whole arborescent flora of this region. These species 

 are : Betula papyrifera Michx., Populus tremuloides Michx., 

 Populus balsamifera Linn., Thuya occidentalis Linn., 

 Pinus banksiana Lam., Picea alba Link., Picea nigra 

 Link., Abies balsamea Marsh, and Larix Americana 

 Michx. The distribution of the forest areas and the range 

 of the various trees depend on several factors, among 

 which may be mentioned, position as regards latitude, 

 height above sea-level, distance from sea-coast, and char- 

 acter of the soil, all of which are important. The forest 

 is continuous over the southern part of the peninsula to 

 between latitudes 52 and 54, the only exceptions being 

 the summits of rocky hills and the outer islands of the At- 

 lantic coast. To the northward of latitude 53, the higher 

 hills are treeless and the size and number of the barren 

 areas rapidly increase. In latitude 55, more than half the 

 country is treeless, woods being only found about the mar- 

 gins of small lakes and in the valleys of the rivers. Trees 

 also decrease in size, until, on the southern shores of Un- 

 gava Bay, they disappear altogether. . . . The tree line 

 skirts the southern shore of Ungava Bay and comes close 

 to the mouth of the George River, from which it turns 

 south-southeast, skirting the western foot-hills of the At- 

 lantic coast range, which is quite treeless, southward to 

 the neighbourhood of Hebron, in latitude 58, where trees 



1 A. P. Low, Report on Explorations in the Labrador Peninsula, 

 Ann. Rep. Geol. Survey of Canada, 1896, Part L, Vol. VIII, pp. 30 ff. 



