A silver birch Betula pendula Roth. (= Betula verrucosa Ehrh.) forest in spring, when the leaves have just appeared. The birch (with participation of the asp) almost solely forms a vast grove-belt (forest-steppe zone) on the West Siberian Lowland. The green carpet on the ground is formed mostly by Aegopodium podagraria L.

Surroundings of Akademgorodok (Academy Town), Novosibirsk, West Siberia, Russia. 30th April 1997. O. Kosterin