MEADOW IN AWATSCHA RIVER DISTRICT. 



55 



trouble extracted from it, but this does not seem to be attempted now-a-days. 

 The grass in the centre of our picture principally consists of a few species of 

 Festuca, which also assume a surprising height. They are not yet fully developed, 

 and one can guess from the branches of the shrubs how much higher the grass has 

 still to grow. An Angelica of peculiar form, common throughout Kamtschatka 

 (9 p), is seen here and there, and where local circumstances have kept back the 

 luxuriant growth of grasses, which also is favourable to the development of other 

 plants, for instance, two species of Sanguisorba, very common hereabouts. The 

 generally tall shrubs rising isolated amidst such grassy plains are the following 

 (8 e) : — A species of Crataegus, common throughout Kamtschatka, and termed 

 "Choirem" in the language of the country, " Bojaruschnik," in Russian * ; the ripe 

 fruit is almost black and considered to be injurious, the foliage is of a fine light 



or black willow ; its habit and curiously twisted stems resemble very much those 

 of the Crataegus, the leaves are small and comparatively broad, and their colour 



inclines towards blue (5 — \. Another species of willow, much like the foregoing 



in habit, but of vividly green foliage, and rather myrtle-like leaves. This isolated 

 robust brushwood is peculiar to all the meadows of Kamtschatka surrounded by 

 forests. The thicket of herbs observed on the left-hand side of the foreground 

 contains, besides the already-mentioned large Heracleum, two exercising a marked 

 influence on the physiognomy of the country, — Senecio cannabifolius, Cham. 

 (3 f), and the Epilobium angustifolium, also known in Europe (7 g). The 

 latter occurs perhaps nowhere in such masses as in Kamtschatka. When in full 

 flower it tinges whole districts with a beautiful red, and to others the tall Senecio 

 imparts a yellow colour. Both just begin to flower about this time ; their proper 

 season is August. In their company is encountered the tall Cacalia hastata 



4 -r J , which, however, grows less gregariously. Two beautiful Liliacew are here 



flowering ; they belong to those plants the bulbs of which supply man with food, 

 and here known collectively as " Savannah." That termed " Awunik " (8 g) is 

 perhaps the Lilium jajponicum of Thunberg, at least closely allied, bearing large 



orange-coloured flowers on its tall scapes. The second, "OfsjanJea" 1 10 — 



having the form of the flowers of Lilium Martagon, is distinguished by its slender 



* Perhaps Pyrus roscsfolia, Cham., which I found in Awatscha Bay, in August 1848, attaining a 

 height of eight to ten feet. — Berthold Scemann. 



E 4 



A species of willow, generally called " Tschernoi TalniJc, 



