The exhibits on Sakhalin and Kurile Islands flora are to the left and right of the entrance.

The two island groups have 1570 species of vascular plants, 1 173 in Sakhalin and 1 143 in the Kuriles.

The tour of Sakhalin flora starts with the geobotanical map which shows the vegetation pattern of the island. Sakhalin lies wholly in the taiga zone, but the taiga is not homogeneous from the north to the south of the island. Each part has its own peculiarities and there is a distinct variation between the vegetation of the northern third of the island and its southern parts.

Herbariums, photos and plaster casts of plants give an idea of the variety of northern, middle and southern Sakhalin flora, its most typical, rare, relic and endemic plants, and its original vegetation complexes.

Samples and trunk sections show the tree species that form the deciduous and coniferous forests of the valleys and mountains in Sakhalin.

Severe climate and soils with little humus make extremely unfavorable conditions for plants in the northern part of the island. The prevailing type of vegetation in North Sakhalin is light coniferous taiga. A North Sakhalin valley has mainly rare and undersized forests consisting of Larch (Larix dahurica), thickets of Creeping Cedar (Pinus pumila), Dwarf Alder-tree (Ainus hirsuta) and Dwarf Birches (Betula exilis, B. middendorfii). In some places the soils are covered for many kilometres with Iceland Reindeer Moss (Cladonia). The vegetation in that part of the island is of subarctic character, which gives the landscapes of North Sakhalin a tundra-like appearance.

Dark coniferous taiga, consisting of Fir (Picea microsperma) and Sakhalin Silver Fir (Abies sachalinensis), prevails in the middle and southern mountainous parts of Sakhalin. Glen Fir-tree (Picea glehnii) and Mayer Silver Fir (Abies mayriana) are rare. In the middle of Sakhalin soils are covered with moss, and fir prevails over silver fir. The distinctive peculiarity of the dark coniferous forests of the extreme south, especially the south-western part of the island, is a considerable admixture of deciduous trees. Here the silver fir prevails over the fir, and ferns grow under the cover of the forest.

Luxuriant thickets of tall grass in valley and flood-plain forests, and southerly warmth-loving plants like the creepers twining around the trunks and branches of conifers, or deciduous species such as evergreen bushes and the thickets of Kurile Bamboo (SaSa) give special colour to the taiga of the island.

A second geobotanical map demonstrates the vegetation pattern of the Kurile Islands.

On the whole, the taiga of the South Kuriles, with many southern plants, is like the taiga of South Sakhalin. Dark coniferous forests with an admixture of deciduous species cover Kunashir, lturup and Shikotan. The islands of the Malaya Kurilskaya ridge are an exception. They are characterised by bare meadow, swamp vegetation, and shrubs. The main vegetation landscape of the Middle Kuriles (Urup to Ketoy Islands) is the sparse growth of Stone Birch (Betula ermanii) and thickets of Kurile Bamboo. The northern islands of the Kuriles completely lack forest and instead have thickets of Creeping Cedar (Pinus pumila) and Alder (Ainus kamtschatica). Rocks and stones are covered with lichen.

The display has herbariums and photos of the ancient flora of the forests of middle and southern Sakhalin and the south Kuriles. These include climbing plants - a Far Eastern Sumac (Toxicodendron orientalis) and Konye Grape (Vitis cognetiae), Actinidias (Actinidia kolomicta, and A. arguta), Schisandra, a magnolia relative with bunches of small sour red berries (Schizandra chinensis), Hydrangea (Hydrangea petiolarus); deciduous trees - Sakhalin Velvet (Phellodendron sachalinense), the Zibold nut (Juglans ailanthifolia), a kind of Ginseng (Kalopanax septem-lobum), and a Magnolia (Magnolia obovata) which grows in Russia only on the island of Kunashir: and evergreens - Creeping Skimmia (Skimmia repens), Aralia, another member of the ginseng family (Aralia cordata), a conifer, the Eastern Yew tree (Taxus cuspidata), and Kurile Bamboo. All are ancient floral species dating from the pre-glacial period.

Generally the vegetation of the islands is of taiga character, but the middle and south parts of Sakhalin and the South Kuriles have some features of East Asian flora. In the north the boundary of that flora coincides with the boundary of the Kurile Bamboo, that being a distinctive marker of mountainous Sakhalin and South Kurile Islands flora. In the south the same boundary coincides with the boundary of fir and silver fir, in Sakhalin, the South Kuriles and Hokkaido.

The rare combination of dark coniferous forests with luxuriant thickets of Kurile Bamboo is typical of the south of Sakhalin, the South Kuriles, and Hokkaido, but is found nowhere else in the world. It needs special protection.