Vegetation of the Coastal Plain 23 .¢ 
It is rather difficult to assert which plants, besides those of the beach, 
should be considered characteristic of the transition region. Plants from the 
tundra apparently get established easily there, often spreading by subterranean 
rhizoms and thus conquering the ground. As a result quite a few species occur 
which are really mote typical of the tundra. I may, however, give a list of 
some of the plants which, together with those mentioned as characteristic of 
the beach, I observed to be more typical and common in the transition region 
and which often occur in large patches on the gravel plains. They are: Festuca 
ovina, Luzula nivalis, Salix pulchra, Oxyria digyna, Lychnis apetala, Papaver 
nudicaule, Draba alpina, D. fladnizensis, Saxifraga decipiens var. groenlandica, 
S. rivularis, S. Hirculus, 8S. oppositifolia, Dryas integrifolia, Potentilla pulchella, 
Astragalus alpinus, Oxytropis nigrescens, Primula borealis, Senecio atropurpureus 
var. subdiscoideus, Taraxacum lyratum, (Plate II, fig. 2). 
From the number of species represented Sazifraga may be said-to be the 
most characteristic genus. 
Tuer VEGETATION OF THE COASTAL PLAIN 
The Lowland Tundra 
In describing the vegetation of the Coastal plain reference may first be 
made to the low, more or less swampy parts which gradually go over into the 
beach region. The typical and dominant plants in these grassy swamps are, 
besides mosses, the following: Carex rariflora, C. rigida, C. reducta, C. stans, 
with C. subspathacea populating the marshes at creek outlets, Eriophorum 
angustifolium, E. Scheuchzeri, Alopecurus alpinus, Hierochloe pauciflora, Salix 
reticulata, S. Richardsontt, Polygonum Bistorta, Oxyria digyna, Stellaria humifusa, 
Lychnis apetala, Ranunculus sulphureus (more common on dry tundra),Carda- 
mine pratensis, Saxifraga cernua, S. hieraciifolia, Rubus Chamaemorus, Empetrum 
nigrum, Senecio palustris. 
In the swamps are often lakes and ponds in and around which, besides 
Carex and Eriophorum, are found Cardamine pratensis and Pedicularis sudetica. 
Typical, more or less immersed species are: Equisetum variegatum, Caltha palus- 
tris, Ranunculus Pallasit, Hippuris vulgaris var. maritima. 
Carex is the most characteristic genus for the tundra swamps and Hippuris 
the most characteristic one for the ponds. 
Instead of by swamps the coastal tundra is often represented by a little higher 
and drier plains, inland gradually rising as small ridges which fall off to creeks, 
rivers, or lakes as bluffs formed in more remote times, or to the sea where they 
are undercut and washed away in the summer time by the waves. The vegeta- 
tion on these drier tundra plains is very dense and exceedingly uniform in all 
directions for many miles. The soil is sometimes more sandy, and sometimes 
more gravelly, or composed of clay, and the ground ice may reach to within a 
few feet of the surface. The great amount of vegetation, however, mostly 
produces a muck soil rich in humus, brown in colour, and made fertile by the 
decaying plants. The vegetation is not quite as dense as in the swamps, where 
no bare spots are to be seen, but it is richer and more close than on the bluffs, 
ridges, or slopes, and in the beds of the water courses, where patches with 
scattered vegetation or none at all are often met with. The typical and dominant 
plants on the low and more dry coastal tundra are, as follows: Equisetum arvense, 
Lycopodium Selago, Arctagrostis latifolia, Alopecurus alpinus, Festuca ovina var. 
brevifolia, Luzula nivalis, L. spicata, Lloydia serotina, Salix pulchra, S. Richard- 
sonit, S. rotundifolia, S. reteculata, Betula glandulosa, Oxyria digyna, Silene 
acaulis, Alsine arctica, Ranunculus nivalis, R. sulphureus, Papaver nudicaule, 
Cochlearia groenlandica, Draba alpina, D. fladnizensis, Hutrema Edwardsii, 
Saxifraga tricuspidata, S. Nelsoniana, S. hieraciifolia, S. decipiens var. groen- 
landica, S. oppositifolia, S. Hirculus, Dryas integrifolia, Potentilla pulchella, 
Rubus Chamaemorus, Lupinus nootkatensis, Phaca frigida, Oxytropis nigrescens, 
