Botanical Notes on Alaska.

• Main Author: Muir, John
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1883
• Subjects: Environmentalist; naturalist; travel; conservation; national parks; John Muir; history; pamphlets; journal articles; speeches; writing; annotation; Arctic; Subarctic; Alaska; Siberia
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmb/196; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/context/jmb/article/1195/viewcontent/160.pdf

47th Congress 2d Session. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Ex. Doc. No. 105. EN ALASKA AND THE N. W. ARCTIC sOCEAN m NOTES AND MEMORAKDAVvMEDIOAi; jAND ANTHROPOLOGICAL ' BOTANICAL;rORKITHOLOGICAL. WASHINGTON: -GOVERNMENT. PEINTING OFFICE. "BOTANICAL .NOTES ON ALASKA. JOHN" MUIR. 45 I r BOTANICAL NOTES. •,'.':/• . By John Mtjie. /,. INTRODUCTORY. The plants named in the following notes were collected at many localities on the coasts of Alaska and Siberia, and on Saint Lawrence, Wrangel, and Herald Islands, between about latitude .54.° and 71°, longitude 101° aud 178°, in the course of short excursions, some of them less than an hour in length. ,';. .- v. . -';;;.; _ ''\./i.-:;. .-•;,-:,' I,.,-;,'--:;.-.'„-:-- '-- 'Inasmuch as the flora of the arctic and subarctic regions is nearly the same everywhere, the discovery of many species new to science was not to be expected. The collection, however, will no doubt be valuable for comparison with the plants of other regions. .''. In general the physiognomy of the vegetation of the polar regions reseinbtes that of the alpine valleys of the temperate zones; so much so that the botanist on the coast of "Artie Siberia or America might readily fancy himself on the Sierra Nevada at a height of 10,000 to 12,000 feet above the sea.: .-" ". v/: ".'•_ ,;-J, '; - X- V.-.v .-:;'.:' A . . --. ---, There is no line of perpetual snow on any portion of the arctic regions known to explorers. The snow disappears every summer not only from the low sandy shores and boggy tundras but also from the tops of the mountains and all the upper slopes and valleys with the exception of small patches of drifts and avalanche-heaps hardly noticeable in general views. But though- nowhere excessively deep or permanent,' the snow-mantle is universal during winter, and the plants are solidly frozen and buried for nearly three-fourths of the year. In this condition they enjoy a sleep and rest about as profound as death, from which they awake in the months of June and July in vigorous health, and speedily reach a ...