300 RIKARD STERNER 



place to be ascribed to human influences together with the high Hme percentage 

 in the soil. 



Of conceivable, natural localities the sand-fields^ occupied by a continental 

 vegetation type, especially those on the eastern coast of Skane, should be men- 

 tioned first. At the present time a spontaneous pine-forest would, primarily 

 owing to climatic reasons, seem to be excluded on these localities (cf. Sernander 

 1902, pp. 464 ff.; Hemberg 1904, pp. 122 ff.). 



The Calluna heath, a dangerous rival of the sand-grass heath, is in the sandy 

 areas of eastern Skane at the present time strongly discouraged by the climate. 

 The sand is probably too dry and too much heated during summer and too 

 much exposed to the wind on the shores. Calluna plays quite a subordinate 

 part in the sand-field vegetation and appears in thinly growing carpets like dwarfed 

 shrubs. On Oland and Gotland and in North-Eastern Germany (Graebner 1901; 

 Preuss 191 2, p. 79) the case is similar. 



As has been mentioned before, the herbaceous sand-grass heaths contain se- 

 veral steppe species. The following ones are to be found in Skane: Allium 

 montanum (Plate 6), Artemisia campestris (Plate 5), Carex obtusata (only one 

 locality, at Ahus), Helichrysum arenarium (Plate 5), Holosteum umbellatum, 

 Koeleria glauca, Medicago falcata and minima, Peucedanum oreoselinum, Phleum 

 Boehmeri (Plate 5), Poa bulbosa, Veronica spicata (p. 310), and Viola rupe- 

 stris (p. 319). 



The sand-grass heaths of eastern Skane are characterized by certain species 

 belonging to the Sarmatian distribution type: Pulsatilla pratensis (p. 333), Astra- 

 galus arenarius (Plate ig), Dianthus arenarius, and Gypsophila fastigiata (Plate 21). 



Among other possibilities of occurrence for steppe species in the natural ve- 

 getation of Skane, calcareous hillsides should be considered. In the rich herbaceous 

 flora on the cJialk hillsides of noj'th- eastern Skane there are some especially 

 remarkable occurrences of steppe species, such as the former occurrence of 

 Asperula tinctoria at Uddarp (Plate 5; cf Appendix II); Polygala comosa 

 (p. 316), Senecio integrifolius (Plate 6), Ranunculus polyanthemos (p. 319), and 

 Crepis praemorsa (p. 315), have here some of their comparatively few occurrences 

 in Skane. — Here it may also be pointed out that the continental wooded slope 

 species Laserpitium latifolium (Plate 7), which has a remarkably scanty distribu- 

 tion in Skane, has most of its occurrences in the northeastern part. 



Besides the species just now mentioned, the flora of Skane contains the follow- 

 ing steppe species: Centaurea jacea, Fragaria viridis, and Seseli libanotis (p. 334). 



It is remarkable that a number of species with a very extensive distribution 

 in the eastern parts of Central Sweden have quite an inconsiderable distribution 

 in Skane: Crepis praemorsa. Ranunculus polyanthemos, Polygala comosa, and 



