16 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF ALASKA. 



This time of rest is indicated by the drooping of the leaves and folding of the corollas and other 

 signs which are observed in milder climes. Each species of plant requires a certain amount of 

 heat, light, and moisture to fulfil the required conditions of life. Of light and moisture there is 

 sufficient in the higher latitudes; the deficiency of heat may be supplemented by certain changes 

 in the plant without losing their individuality, and may be changed to meet the requirements 

 necessary for their existence in this latitude. The colors of the flowers are usually most intense; 

 shades of blue and red prevail, the leaves are thicker or more fleshy and contain less woody 

 fiber. The stems of many of the flowering plants attain their full height before the leaves and 

 branches are half developed; and, in many instances, the flowers appear before the leaves, thus 

 showing that in the struggle for existence the leaves and other parts of the plants have remaiued 

 subservient to the fruit-producing portions. In many perennials the roots attain larger size than 

 in warmer latitudes, and thus seem to store up an energy which not only adapts the plant to with- 

 stand the rigors of the climate, but forms a store from which to draw vitality in the early spring. 

 The shrubby plants growing near the coast are peculiar for their change of growth by which they 

 are enabled to lie nearer the ground and thus receive a greater amount of heat and also to be 

 the better protected by the mantle of snow. The thickets of alder and willow are extremely 

 tangled, the stems forming infinite curves and elbows, interlaced and matted together in such 

 degree that progress is not possible among them. These shrubs in the most favorable localities 

 attain a height of but feet feet, while their manner of growth and numerous abortive leaf-buds 

 indicate their struggle for existence. 



The willows and alders and dwarf birches alone attain a moderate height in the immediate 

 vicinity of Saint Michael's. About 20 miles from the coast line, and just beyond the low hills 

 which are near the sea shore, a scanty growth of poplars may be found in the protected ravines. 

 These trees rarely reach a diameter of over 8 inches, and are generally decayed within. On the 

 portage from Unalakhlit to the Yukon liiver a few spruce and poplars attain a height of 25 feet. 

 Not until the watershed of the Yukon is reached do we find trees of considerable size ; there 

 spruce, willow, poplars, and birch obtain good size, and form the supply from which all the wood 

 of the district is obtained. An incalculable quantity is brought down as drift each spring, and, 

 thrown on the broad ocean, is distributed by tides, currents, and winds over the shores of all 

 the islands and mainland bordering Bering Sea. Not until the shore of the inner part of Bristol 

 Bay is reached do we find spruce growing immediately on the coast. On Aliaska trees are only 

 found. on its extreme eastern limits, and then mostly on the southern side. The willows and alders 

 grow to a greater size on the western part of Aliaska than on the Aleutian Islands. The eastern 

 part of Kadiak Island and those lying to the northeast of it are abundantly supplied with spruce 

 and other trees. Of late years many cords of wood are exported from Kadiak to the Aleutian 

 Islands for fuel. 



Among the Aleutian Islands the only trees are the spruce from Sitka, set out by the priest of 

 the Unalashkan district in 1832, on the island of Amaknak, a few hundred yards from the village 

 of Iliuliuk, on Unalaskka Island. The trees grew, some died, and now but fourteen remain ; the 

 other eight were either broken down or died. They have not reproduced their kind, though an 

 abundant crop of cones is produced. Alders and willows are the only large shrubs found on the 

 Aleutian Islands. Their growth is scarcely superior to that of the same species at Saint Michael. 

 Even though drift-wood is scarce and cord wood is dear, the Aleuts prefer to burn a few wisps of 

 grass or a bunch of Umpetrum rather than go the same distance for the alder or willow. Though 

 it is true that among these islands the Empetriim attains its rankest growth, the entire hillside is 

 covered with it, and the grasses contend in height with the willows. 



