THE ANNALS 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



SUPPLEMENT TO VOL. XVIL JUNE 1846. 



LIV. — Botanical Excursion in Lower Styria in 1842. 

 By R. C. Alexander, M.D.* 



In the spring of 1842 1 was persuaded by my friend Dr. Maly 

 to take a tour through Lower Styria, as a country that had been 

 hitherto very Httle explored by botanists, though from its situa- 

 tion seeming to claim their especial notice. Situated in a degree 

 of latitude about the same as that of the middle of France, at 

 the base of the great central Alpine group of Europe, three 

 branches Of which terminate in this province ; and on the other, 

 the eastern side, exposed to the influence of the great plain of 

 Hungary, where the winter is as cold as in the steppes of Russia, 

 and the summer as hot as in the warmest parts of Italy or Spain, 

 it might be expected to evince in its vegetation the effects of a 

 climate so modified. Though it was impossible in an excursion 

 of eight weeks to obtain anything approaching to a perfect know- 

 ledge of its flora, the few plants collected are of interest in 

 connexion with the circumstances under which they present 

 themselves. 



During the first four months of the year I remained at Gratz. 

 The thaw set in on the 2nd of March, but the weather continued 

 very cold till the end of April, and the vegetation was unusually 

 backward. During this time I collected Daphne Mezereon, which 

 was in blossom on the 14th March upon the Schockel, a month 

 earlier than in the plain below. Crocus vernus, and its var. albi- 

 floruSj Helleborus viridis, Carex clandestina, ornithopodaj digitata, 

 montana and pracox ; Erythronium Dens-caniSy which is abun- 

 dant in all the woods from Gratz southward, Anem.one pratensis, 

 Halleriy hepatica, ranunculoides, Hierochloa australis, Sesleria 

 carulea, Petasites albus, Potentilla cinerea and alha. Erica carneUj 

 Gagea lutea, Isopyrum thalictroides, Corydalis solida, Cornus 

 Inas, Potentilla micrantha, Ram., Primula Auricula^ Valeriana 

 tripteris, Gentiana acaulis and verna, Viola arenaria, Pulmonaria 

 mollis and officinalis^ Daphne Cneorum, Mercurialis ovata, and 

 Veronica triphyllos. 



The Society will find specimens of them with their habitats 

 among the plants sent. The Anemone Halleri is the same as the 

 Bohemian Hacquetii, and the plant of Piedmont described by 



♦ Read before the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, March 12th, 1846, ! 

 Ann. S^^ Mag. N. Hist. Vol. xvii. Svppl. 2 I 



