Floristik, Geographie, Systematik etc. 419 



places, still the Mangrove swamp is not especially characteristic 

 owing to the bold nature of the seaboard. Inland a hilly well-wooded 

 region with many streams passes gradually over into savannah 

 poorly wooded and deficient in water during the dry season. The 

 Chief rivers and hill-ranges of these regions are fully described. The 

 distribution of forest t\^pes of Vegetation appears to follow climatic 

 variations generally but local modifications have been traced to 

 edaphic factors and topography. The highest rainfall (200 cm.) 

 occurs on the coast near Axim and here tropical forest occurs and 

 foUows the larger Valleys inland. Passing eastwards along the 

 coastal Zone the rainfall decreases to 50 cm. at Kwitta. Inland the 

 rainfall also decreases towards the savannah region; Gambaga has 

 120 cm. but the relative humidity is low^. The general course of 

 the seasons is a wet period (May to July) and a dry period (Novem- 

 ber to February) with intervening shorter periods of moist or dry 

 weather. 



Four Chief types of forest are described. The rain or moist 

 evergreen tropical forest is characterised by a dense canopy irre- 

 gulär at the top, many of the trees are tall and lianes and epiphytes 

 are abundant so that the shade is deep; the dry season is Short and 

 not entirely rainless; the products of this forest include rubber, 

 timber, dyes, and the oil palm. The freshwater swamp forest is 

 comparativel}'^ limited and consists of plants adapted to permanently 

 wet soil; the Vegetation somewhat resembles the rain forest, but it 

 is an opener formation; it yields the Raphia palm, timber, oil, etc. 

 The monsoon or mixed deciduous forest consists largely of trees 

 which lose their leaves during the dry season, but it also includes 

 many evergreens from the rain forest; it has a bright green appea- 

 rance recalling the forests of Burmah, and yields mahogany, ebony 

 and other timbers, rubber and fibres. The savannah forest is park- 

 like with much ground Vegetation especially grasses; the trees 

 include deciduous and evergreen species, and vary in habit from 

 dwarfed and gnarled open groups on the dry laterite soils to dense 

 groups of tall trees in the moister hollows. Savannah without trees 

 and thorn scrub are types poorl}'^ represented in the area. The 

 savannah scrub occurs on the drier south-eastern coastland and 

 follows the Valley of the Volta increasing in breadth tili it occupies 

 the whole hinterland of Ashanti. The author predicts a large 

 increase in the products of the forests of the Gold Coast when the 

 navigation of the rivers is improved. W. G. Smith. 



Vandas, C, Reliquiae Formänekianae. Enumeratio 

 criticae plantarum vasculariu m , quas itineribus in 

 Haemo peninsula et in Asia minor (Bithynia) factis 

 collegit Dr. Ed. Formänek, professor gymnasüBru- 

 nensis bohemici. (Brunae. Sumptibus Comitiorum Marchionatus 

 Moraviae. 8". 612 pp. 1909.) 



Neu werden folgende Arten und Formen beschrieben: Nastur- 

 tiiim proliferutn Heuffl. var. brevicarpiim, Heliosperma Tommasmii 

 (Vis) Rehb. var. glabrescens Vand., Cucubahis baccifer L. f. villosulns, 

 Silene Frivaldskyana Hpe. f. piirpiivascens , Stellana media var. glan- 

 dulosissinia, Hypericum confiisiis Vandas, Trifolium alpestre L. f. 

 glabruni, Tr. pannonicum Jacq. f. angustifolium , Sedurn Cepaea L. 

 var, glabrum, Cnidium apioides Spr. f. araiatunt , Galium purpureum 

 L. var. trickanthum, Achillea Neilreichii Kern f. villosa, Solidago 



