VIII.] DISTRIBUTION OF THE TREES OF SIBERIA. 
383 
meadow covered partly with a grassy turf untouched by the 
scythe, partly with a very peculiar bush vegetation, rising to a 
height of eight metres, among which there are to be found a 
number of families of plants well known by us in Sweden, as 
Impatiens, Urtica, Sonchus, Heracleum, &c., but in gigantic 
forms unknown at home. Often a dense thicket of a willow 
{Salix mtellenia, L.), whose straight, branchless stems resemble 
at a distance the bamboo woods of the south, alternates with 
level, grassy carpets of a lively green and small streams in such 
a way as gives the whole the appearance of the most smiling 
park carefully kept free of fallen branches and dry grass. It is 
the river water which in . spring has played the gardener’s part 
in these parks, seldom trodden by the foot of man and endlessly 
rich in the most splendid greenery. Near the river there are 
also to be found carpets of a uniform green, consisting of a 
short kind of Equisetum, unmixed with any other plants, which 
forms a “ gazon,” to which no nobleman’s country seat can show 
a match. The drawback is, that a stay in these regions during 
summer is nearly rendered impossible by the enormous number 
of mosquitoes with which the air is infested. 
A table drawn up by Dr. Arnell, to be found in Redogorelse 
for de smnska ex;peditionerna till mynningen af Jenisej dr 1876^ 
shows the distribution of the most important varieties of trees. 
From it we see that on the Yenesej the birch [Betula odorata, 
Bechst.), the fir (Pimcs ohovata, TuRCZ.), the larch (Pinus 
larix, L.), and the juniper {Juniperus communis, L.), go to 
69° 35' N.L. (that is to say to the latitude of Tromsoe) ; the 
sallow {Salix ca^rea, L.) to 68° 55'; the bird’s cherry {Primus 
padus, L.), and the Siberian pine {Pinus sihirica, Ledeb.), to 
66° 80'; the aspen {Populus tremula, L.) to 65° 55' (the latitude 
of Haparanda); the pine {Pinus sylvatica, L.) to 65° 50', &c. 
In the middle of the forest belt the wood appears to cover 
the whole land without interruption, there being, unless 
1 Bihang till Vet. Ahad. Handl. Bd. iv. No. 11, p. 42. 
