HALOPHYTE SOCIETIES. 255 



extensive of the salt steppes is the Great Salt Lake basin. 

 It is here that the halophyte chenopod forms are especially 

 developed, and there is a rich display of greasewoods, 

 seablights, samphires,, etc. The Bad Lands, already re- 

 ferred to, represent another such area. 



173. Salt and alkaline deserts. In these areas the water 

 supply reaches its minimum, and therefore the water be- 

 comes saturated with the characteristic salts of the soil. 

 No worse combination for plant activity can be imagined 

 than the combination of minimum water and maximum 

 salts. In consequence, such areas are almost, if not abso- 

 lutely, devoid of vegetation. As illustrations, the exten- 

 sive desert of the Dead Sea region and the Death's Valley 

 may be cited. Death's Valley is an area in Southern Cali- 

 fornia upon the borders of Arizona, in the general region of 

 the cactus desert. The soil is so strongly impregnated with 

 the so-called alkaline salts, and the water supply is so scanty, 

 that the surface of the soil is covered by a thick crust of 

 salt. In such conditions vegetation becomes impossible. 



