140 FORESTS OF SIBERIA AND TURKESTAN 



Akmolinsk districts, the taiga gradually yields to the 

 steppe vegetation, and meadows and feather grass ap- 

 pear, occasionally penetrating far into the forest, or 

 elsewhere completely enclosing patches of forest. 



In the two districts above mentioned, the forests 

 occupy scarcely 2 per cent, of the whole area. In the 

 forest-steppe tracts in these last two districts, how- 

 ever, islands (kolki) of forest of varying size, some 

 being considerable, occur, consisting chiefly of deciduous 

 species. Birch and aspen are the most numerous, 

 followed by the black alder, bird-cherry, mountain 

 ash, black and white poplar, and acacia. Birch and 

 aspen kolki are chiefly found in the north of the 

 Akmolinsk district adjacent to the Government of 

 Tobolsk, whereas the pine and the juniper occur 

 scattered throughout this Government. In the Semi- 

 palatinsk district the Western Siberian species of pine, 

 spruce, silver fir, and larch occur, but they are not 

 equally distributed in all parts. Also in this part of 

 the forest-steppe shrubs such as the sallow-thorn 

 (Alaternus), hawthorn, raspberry, elder, white hazel, 

 medlar, occur, and, amongst others, the dwarf almond, 

 spiraea, and several kinds of roses. The forest-steppe 

 region extends as far as the Transbaikal district, where 

 it gradually merges into the black-earth steppe which 

 possesses no forest on it, being covered with feather 

 grass and other steppe plants, interrupted by salt 

 marshes and sands. 



The Turkestan Region 



The Turkestan deserts are situated to the south, 

 and here the shrub known as the saksaul (Halaxylon 



