| Summary: | Distribution patterns of thirty-one species of the Ericaceae native to Sakhalin and the Kuril Archipelago were analyzed quantitatively based on the herbarium specimens deposited in the main Japanese herbaria. Ledum palustre s. lat., Vaccinium vitis-idaea and Vaccinium uliginosum represent the three most abundant species of the Ericaceae in the regions. Many Sakhalin-Kurils indices (S-K indices) of the species of the Ericaceae show negative numbers, and it reflects more predominant arctic-alpine "heath" tundras found in the Kurils than in Sakhalin. Most species with high positive S-K indices meaning a distribution bias toward Sakhalin, have the circumpolar or Northeast Eurasian distribution patterns. On the other hand, most species with low negative S-K indices meaning a distribution bias toward the Kurils, have the distribtuion patterns confined to Japan and its neighbors, or the North Pacific region. Biodiversity and Biogeography of the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin vol.2
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