shrub-steppes are nearly exclusively composed of Caragana Bungei, Caragana spinosa^ 

 and Poteniilla fruticosa, forming low bushes, about 1 m. high, at rather regular inter- 

 vals, and so open th^t they do not form any continuous thicket, with a sparing vege- 

 tation between them, frequently of Siipa pennata var. Joannis, Slipa capillala, Stipa 

 sibirica, and remains of other grass vegetation. 



, But the flora of the steppe itself is very poor and monotonous. At this time, in the 

 last days of August and the beginning of September, the greater part of the plant hfe had 

 been destroyed, partly by the long continued summer drought, partly by the nights of 



Fig. 70. The Yenisei valley below Kemchik-bom. The dry rock-steppe gradually disappears, 

 and the primeval forest begins. On the banks the first larches are seen. 



frost. Over large stretches there was an almost complete absence of vegetation. Besi- 

 des the plants already mentioned above, I have, here and there, on the steppe along 

 the Ulu-kem, collected still determinable remains of various plants, which, for the sake of 

 completeness, I will give in the following, viz: 



Linum perenne, Astragalus hgpogloUis var. dasyglottis, Astragalus melilotoides. 

 Cotyledon spinosa, Oxgtropis aciphylla, Artemisia dracunculus, Convolvulus Ammani, 

 Eurotia ceratoides, Gilldenstddtia monophylla, Ephedra vulgaris, Atraphaxis frutescens, 

 Caragana pygmaea, Allium senescens, Carex supina, Koeleria gracilis, Triticum cristatum, 

 Artemisia latifolia, Artemisia glauca, Medicago falcata, Gypsophila desertorum, 

 Echinospermum Lappula, Panzeria lanata, Iris ensata, Allium Stellerianum, Selaginella 



99 



