THK CONTINENTAL FLORA OF SOUTH SWEDEN 



301 



Seseli libanotis. Trifolium montanum is absent in the whole of eastern Skane, 

 a fact that can hardly depend on any lack of suitable localities (cf. p. 315). 



Os-slopes in Smalajid. It is a characteristic feature of the distribution of 

 most steppe species in South Sweden that they are absent, or very scarce in 

 the so-called South Swedish highland. The more widely distributed species 

 enclose this district, for instance, Artemisia campestris (Plate 5), or embrace it 

 from the east in a curve, more or less 

 open towards the west, for instance, Tri- 

 folium montanum (Fig. 6). The absence 

 of suitable locaUties to such an extent 

 would seem to be primarily connected 

 with the nature of the soil and the topo- 

 graphy. By far the larger, south-western 

 part of the i South Swedish highland* 

 in reality consists of a plateau. (»The 

 Archaean rock plateau of Smaland*, De 

 Geer 191 3; cf. Ahlmann 1920), which is 

 hardly cultivable and for the most part 

 occupied by forests or, especially in its 

 western part, extensive moors and erica- 

 ceous heaths. (Cf. Fig. 8, p. 312). In 

 north-eastern Smaland, with adjacent parts 

 of Ostergotland and Vastergotland, where 

 the terrain is often broken the climate 

 and the nature of the soil form con- 

 siderable obstacles toxerothermous species. 



An examination of the occurrences of 

 steppe species within the district shows that 

 they are generally situated on the oses. 



The eastern half of Smaland is traversed by a great number of oses, emana- 

 ting from the central parts and stretching down to the coast in a south-easterly 

 or southerly direction (see Plate 3). On the plain along the Straits of Kalmar 

 the ridges are very conspicuous. They run close to one another and are gene- 

 rally powerfully formed. They have here a decisive influence on the contour of 

 the countryside and the geography of the settlement. In the interior of Smaland 

 there are only a small number of oses, and with a couple of exceptions they 

 consist of quite inconsiderable isolated sand or gravel hillocks. 



21 Ceografiska Anualtr lq22. 



6. The whole distribution of Trifolium mon- 

 tanum in Scandinavia and Denmark. 

 (O: uncertain occurrences; cf. p. 401). 



