64 



PLATE XXII. 



KAMTSCHATKA. 



GRASSY PLAIN IN THE BOLSCHAJA EEKA DISTRICT. 



September. 



The western slopes of the peninsula, the principal river of which is the so-called 

 " Bolschaja Eeka " (i. e. the large river), present fewer picturesque scenes and 

 botanical treasures than the other more mountainous side. Forests are fewer, 

 quagmires and moors are more extensive, and everywhere about them predomi- 

 nate willow bushes. Most of the plants represented have been introduced in 

 preceding plates; true, they begin to show the effects of night frosts, which 

 have more or less caused their fading and discolourment ; especially the tall 

 Umbellifers have already been deprived of most of their leaves. These um- 

 belliferous plants are more characteristic of these grassy plains than of any 

 other part of the country. The tallest amongst them are the already-men- 

 tioned Heracleum clulce (?), and a species of Angelica of surprising dimensions 



^3 | 4 ^ ; 13 ; it abounds in a few level valleys of the western slopes, 



principally in the district traversed by the Bannaja Eeka, a tributary of the 

 Bolschaja Eeka; but is not met with again even in the neighbourhood of its 

 real home. This stately herb is known throughout the country by the Eussian 

 name of " Meclweshie Koren " (Bear's root) ; its hollow stems are dark reddish in 

 the autumn, and those parts of the radical leaves still fresh are of a pale yellowish 

 white green. Another plant (not figured in any preceding plate) is a tall, always 

 gregariously growing nettle {Urtica; 15 m), which contributes an essentially 

 characteristic feature to the country, but which does not occur anywhere in such 

 masses as in these western districts. It is generally ten feet high, and bears other- 

 wise much resemblance to our Urtica urens, without, however, stinging like that 

 does.* Its long stems yield a superior fibre for nettle yarn, which in former times 



* Rather Urtica dioica, Linn. — Berthold Seemann. 



