of Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean, In places and over extensive patches 

 of groitnd lichens nay comprise the main cover, forming a close mat, gray- 

 ish to yellorrish white in color, Thev provide the chief winter forage 

 for reindeer and carioou. Llosses, especially sphagnian, are fotmd generally 

 throughout the 'Territory, often underlying the other vegetation or nixed 

 with it. Peat "beds formed Dy ar. accumulation of sphagnum moss may "be 

 found in the inter: or to a depth of as much as 30 feet. Edible berry- 

 producing snrubs irclude mountr'.n cranberry, highbush cranberry, cloud- 

 berry, tall fjalmonberi'y, raspb(-rry, black currant, red currant, low and 

 highbush blueberrj'-, red huckleberry, mountain huckleberry, elderberry, 

 serviceberry, Arctic bramble, and crowberry. 



-he numerous sedges constitute a choice forage for grazing animals. 

 Also liked and much grazed by noose, reindeer and caribou, musk oxen, buf- 

 faloes, and mountain sheep are the abundant and widely cistributed willows 

 and the groimd or dwarf birches. Many kinds of willows range from loYf 

 prostrate growths on the t-juadra and in the £,lpine meadows to tall tree- 

 like forms in southern Alaska pucL along the Y-jlcon Hiver. Three species 

 of dwarf birch occur mo&t abunrsjitly in interior and western Alaska. They 

 vary from low-growing form on the coastal tundra to taller growth in the 

 interior. 



The horsetails ( E guise turn ) appear everyr/here , along rivers, aroimd 

 ponds, and in the woods, aixd are often troublesome weeds in field and garden. 

 They are important as a food fcr wildlife, being eaten by waterfowl as well 

 as grazing animals and in sprirg by bears. 



Tail grasses occur most abundantly in southwestern Alaska and on Zod- 

 iak Island. Elsewhere they are; comxiionly an invader on burned-over or cleared 

 ground and on abandoned village sites. They occur freciuentlj' at the edge 

 of beaches, where the giant ryegrass particularly holds sway. 



Flowering plants that are most widely distributed are the arnicas, 

 groundsels, s.axifrages, elephant weeds, pinks, lupines, forget-me-nots, 

 gentians, wild geranium, slzunkcabbage , lily-of-the-valley, clintonia, rice- 

 Toot, foxglove, waterhemlock, grass of Parnassus, Arctic coltsfoot, mint, 

 pepp7« iris, chrysanthemun, bedstraws, everlasting, corydalis, springbe'auty, 

 dandelion, chiclcreeds, st<arf lov.'3r , wild parsnip, wallflower, Indian paint- 

 brush, mountain bluebell, bellf lowers, sweet pea, buttercups, pyrolas, 

 stonecrops, locos, asters, goll-.nrod, f ivef ingers , larkspirrs, Jacobs-ladder, 

 knotv/eeds, flreweeds, daipies, twinflower, monkshood, primroses, violets, 

 shootingstar , marsh^narigoldj monkeyf lower , baneberry, anemones, red colum- 

 bine, v/aterlilies, ..vetch, m.ustards, yarrow, stickseed, avens, phloxes, 

 carchfly, and orchids. Cotton-sedges, especially en the coast tundra, oftto 

 blanket the vegetative cover wir-h their white cottony heads. Conspicuous 

 flowering shrubs that add color to the above include the roses, Labrador- ( 

 teas, spiraea, herbaceous dogwoods, bearberry or kinnikinnick, dryas, cassiope, 

 mountainheath, mountain-ash, elderberry, shrubby cinquefoil, bog-rosemary, 

 alpine-azalea, salmonberry, silverberry, and an occasional rhododendron. 



