FLORA OF COMMANDER ISLANDS. 35 



Dr. Ernst Almqaist has investigated the lichens of Bering Island and has 

 published a very interesting account of his studies (Vega Exp. Vet. lakt., iv, 1887, pp. 

 518-519, 521, 524-531), in which he gives and ingenious explanation of the curiously 

 sculptured surface of the heath-like plant covering of the lower plateaus as due to a 

 natural rotation of the plants composing it. 



The general character of the flora is very much like that of the treeless regions 

 of northern Europe, the most discrepant features being the splendid rhododendrons 

 (R. Icamtscliaticum and chrysanthum) and the beautiful dark-maroon-colored Saranna 

 lily {Fritillaria Tcamtschatcensis), the bulbs of which the natives gather for food in late 

 summer. These plants indicate the close relationships to the flora of Kamchatka and 

 the other Aleutian Islands. The plants., of both islands are in most cases identical, 

 but the manner of their immigration very likely has caused the occurrence of some 

 species in one island which are absent in the other. Thus I have from Copper Island 

 the conspicuous yellow flowering Tiola biflora (also found by me at Petropaulski), 

 which I failed to find on Bering Island, and which I could scarcely have overlooked. 



The islands are completely destitute of trees, the few species of Salix, Pyrus, and 

 Betula hardly ever rising above 6 to 8 feet, though I have a section of Betula evers- 

 mann\ from Bering Island with a diameter of 2 inches at the root. The Pyrus, in 

 many places, forms extensive, nearly impenetrable thickets. 



There are two tolerably well-defined belts of vegetation on the island, one a very 

 luxuriant growth of higher plants in the lower valleys and plains, the other a 

 heath like forniation above the former. 



The luxuriance of vegetation in the lower belt, due to a rich s(5il and extreme 

 moisture, is marvelous. Some species familiar to me from boyhood I could hardly 

 recognize in the enormous specimens before me. Such plants^as A7ie7none naroissiflora 

 and Geranium erianthum sometimes reach a height of 3 feet, while in some particularly 

 favored localities many acres of ground may be found covered with an almost 

 impenetrable jungle of Archangelica, Reracleum lanatum, Artemisia tilesii, Picris 

 hieracioides, Spiraea Icamtschatica, Aconitwn, Veratrum album, etc., often reaching a 

 height of 5 to 6 feet. The exuberance of the umbellifers, particularly near the coast, 

 is very striking, as shown in the accompanying photograph of Heracleum lanatum 

 (pi. 15a). Near the beach this belt shows the usual influence of the neighborhood of 

 salt water in the presence of such plants as Lathyrus maritimus, Meriensia maritima 

 and Ligusticum scoticum. 



The heath commences often quite abruptly above this belt, covering the surface of 

 the beach terraces and the lower plateaus. Its presence does not depend so much upon 

 the altitude as the character of the ground, for where the coast escarpment is low the 

 heath formation commences even at an altitude of 20 to 30 feet. The fundamental 

 plant of this formation is Umpetrum nigrum, richly interspersed with Loiseleuria pro- 

 cumbens, Gassiope lycoyodoides and other ericaceous plants, chiefly Bryanthus, and in 

 the lower portions Rhododendron chrysanthum. Where the ground is marshy the salmon 

 berry Bubus chamcemorus, is rather common. Higher up on the mountain sides the 

 vegetation grows more and more scanty and alpine in character. 



The pelagic flora around Bering Island has been studied by Dr. F. R. Kjellman 

 (Kgl. Svenska Vetensk. Akad. Handling., (n. s.), xxiii, 1889, No. 8, 58 pp., 7 pis ), who 

 observes that at Bering Island all conditions are found favorable to the development 

 of a rich flora of algce of the pelagic type. " It may even be said with safety that there 



