The Abakan Steppe is now, in the main, a dry, grassy steppe, most of the vegetation 

 being made up of a thin cover of plants, chiefly composed of various species of grass, 

 averaging from 20 to 30 cm. in height, above all Festiica ovina siibspec. sulcnla and 

 Koeleria gracilis, growing so kn apart as to expose the th-v, naked soil. For tlie rest, the 

 plants occurring sparsely in admixture with these species ol i^rass, vary accordiuif lo Uil" 

 conditions of moisture and Ihe character ot the soil. In these regions, the character of the 

 vegetation is, above all, dependent on Ihe conditions ot moisture On the islets in the ri- 

 ver and along the banks, hydrophile and mesophile plants are to be found, but, only 

 at a short distance from the river these conditions are changed, and the xerophile 

 typical steppe vegetation predominates. 



In point of the floristic conditions, the region here may therefore, for the purpose of a 

 general view, most conveniently be divided into the vegetation oft he islets 

 and the r i v e r - b a n k s, and the vegetation of the steppe p r o- 

 p e r, the former chiefly with mesophile and hydrophile plants, the latter in the main 

 consisting of xerophile ones. 



The Vegetation of the Islets and River-Banks. 



The river Abakan, like the Yenisei, here in the plain-land divides into numerous 

 branches, the so-called «protoks». so as to form a great variety of larger and smaller moist 



Fig. 4. Typical scenery from an i.slet in Uu- river Abaliiui near L'ibat. Natural meadow 

 14 with scattered bushes ot' Salix daphnoidcs. 



