There were oaks, beeches (scarcely distinguishable from existing species), birches, planes and willows (one closely related to the living Salix candida), laurels, represented by Sassafras and Cinnamomum, magnolias and tulip trees (Liriodendron), myrtles, Liquidambar, Diospyros and ivy.
At the close of the glacial period the alpine floras retreated to the mountains accompanied by an arctic contingent, though doubtless many species of the latter, such as Salix polaris, failed to establish themselves.
The following species, none of which are found in European Russia, are characteristic of the tundras - arbutus (Arctostaphilus alpina), heaths or andomedas (Cassiope tetragona and C. hypnoides), Phyllodoce taxifolia, Loiseleuria procumbens, a species of Latifolium, a Polar azalea (Osmothamnus fragrans) and a Polar willow (Salix arctica).
Mimosa and the wild wilge-boom (Salix capensis) are the common trees on the banks and rivers, while the weeping willow is frequent round the farmsteads.
A great mass of pale-green foliage is usually composed of the algarrobo trees, while the course of the river is marked by lines or groups of palms, by fine old willows (Salix humboldtiana), fruit-gardens, and fields of cotton, Indian corn, sugar-cane and alfalfa (lucerne).
