 The whole of the island is covered with dense forests, mostly coniferous.The Yezo (or Yeddo) spruce ("Picea jezoensis"), the Sakhalin fir ("Abies sachalinensis") and the Dahurian larch ("Larix gmelinii") are the chief trees; on the upper parts of the mountains are the Siberian dwarf pine ("Pinus pumila") and the Kurile bamboo ("Sasa kurilensis").Birches, both Siberian silver birch ("Betula platyphylla") and Erman's birch ("B. ermanii"), poplar, elm, bird cherry ("Prunus padus"), Japanese yew ("Taxus cuspidata"), and several willows are mixed with the conifers; while farther south the maple, rowan and oak, as also the Japanese "Panax ricinifolium", the Amur cork tree ("Phellodendron amurense"), the Spindle ("Euonymus macropterus") and the vine ("Vitis thunbergii") make their appearance.