Chap. VII] COLD TEMPERATE FOREST FORMATIONS 577 



ii. THE FORESTS OF EUROPE. 



Forest whose development has been influenced neither fundamentally 

 nor lastingly by man, and which consequently bears the true impress of 

 natural conditions — in other words, virgin forest — is rare even in North 

 America, where the forests have been exposed to man's disturbing agency 

 for a relatively short period only ; how much rarer then will such virgin 

 forest be in Europe. Merely a few small patches of forest to a certain 

 extent give us an idea of the ancient virgin forest of Europe. 



Among such relics of forest that to some extent deserve the appellation 

 of virgin forest, may be classed those situated in the Bohmerwald, and 

 belonging to Prince Ad. v. Schwarzenberg, by whose order ' 4,550 acres of 

 which are to be preserved for ever.' Goeppert has described them in detail 

 (see Fig. 320). In contrast with artificial forests these natural forests con- 

 sist of a profuse mixture of spruces, silver-firs, and beeches, among which 

 other isolated broad-leaved trees (Acer Pseudo-platanus, Ulmus campestris, 

 Alnus incana and A. glutinosa, Betula alba and B. pubescens, Salix Caprea) 

 grow sporadically. Only at higher altitudes is the spruce found pure. 

 Other distinctions from artificial forests consist in the numerous fallen 

 trunks, from the decomposing substance of which there spring numerous 

 young trees, which, in accordance with their origin, stand subsequently in 

 lines on stilt-roots ; also there are numerous fungi (Polyporus pinicola, Fr.) 

 attacking the trees, and a profusion of knob-like excrescences on the trunks 

 occur. The densely mossy ground between the trunks bears a rich young 

 growth of beech-trees, spruces, and silver-firs, which attain only a small size 

 in the shade of the forest, but grow up to their normal height as soon as 

 a gap occurs in the leaf-canopy owing to the fall of a large tree. Hence it 

 happens that spruces, which had remained 120-140, even 160, years in 

 a suppressed condition, and had attained a diameter of only 5-7 inches, 

 have subsequently grown into large trees. 



Greater luxuriance of growth, particularly in regard to the filling up of 

 the space within the forest, is exhibited by the forests on the eastern shore 

 of the Black Sea (Fig. 321), especially those of Abkhasia, of which Radde 1 

 gives the following description : 



' Close to the sea, immediately behind the narrow bare ridge of pebbles thrown up 

 b} T the waves, shrubs and trees multiply on the Abkhasian coast, and, with the help 

 of the troublesome Smilax and climbing Clematis, form impenetrable barriers. 

 Wherever a concealed path does not lead straight from the properties of the Abkha- 

 sians to the sea, it is apparently very difficult to break through these high barriers 

 of plants. Asclepiads grow over prickly brambles and roses, or cover Crataegus 

 and Paliurus. Delicate asparagus-plants wind through the meshes of the coarse 

 thorny net ; Smilax maintains its hold right up to the top of the highest trees, and 



1 Radde, II. p. 18. 



SCHIMI'ER p D 



