THE CONTINENTAL FLORA OF SOUTH SWEDEN 349 



in some respects from that of the above-mentioned types. The species especially 

 belongs to the flora of hills covered with oaks or groves but it may also appear 

 in meadows, especially in high-lying shore-meadows, and sometimes too in dry 

 meadows (see table i, Appendix II). It seems to be somewhat more exacting 

 with regard to the nutritive nature of the soil than the preceding species. More 

 remarkable, from the viewpoint of distribution, is the peculiarity that the species 

 is all but totally lacking even in the coastal districts of Smaland and Ostergot- 

 land. In this respect it agrees with a large number of » calciphilous* species. — 

 A small number of occurrences right through central Smaland form a peculiar 

 kind of connecting link. — The comparatively wide distribution of this species on 

 the west coast would seem to have its primary cause in marl and shell-bank 

 occurrences. 



The species which have just been treated have not shown, or at least not shown 

 to any great extent, any easterly distribution in the south of Sweden. But to the 

 types of vegetation here in question there belong a number of species which are 

 lacking in the south-west of Sweden. A hint of this type of distribution is to 

 be found in the circumstance, which has been pointed out with regard to some 

 species already treated, that the distribution is considerable more abundant in the 

 south-east than in the south-west of Sweden [Ranunculus polyanthemos (p. 319), 

 Crepis praemorsa (p. 315), Agrimonia eupatoria (p. 344), Geranium sanguineum 

 (p. 345), and Vicia cassubica (p. 346)]. 



Another transitional type is supplied, as is shown by the map on Plate 7, 

 by Melavipyruni cristatiwi. This is very characteristic of the flora on hillsides 

 covered with oaks or groves in the south-east of Sweden. With regard to its 

 general distribution the species agrees pretty closely with Geranium sanguineum 

 but it is somewhat less widely distributed in the west of Europe. 



Laserpitiiim latifolinm (Plate 7), which is also characteristic of the richer hill- 

 sides covered with oaks or groves in the south-east of Sweden, has a greatly 

 restricted and purely easterly distribution in the south of Sweden. The species 

 makes its way into Vastergotland only in a small number of localities. From 

 there the limit runs in a southerly direction through the centre of Smaland and 

 the east of Skane. It is worthy of especial notice, therefore, that Skane falls 

 almost entirely outside the limit. Throughout the whole of north-eastern Sma- 

 land, from about the line Kalmar — Vetlanda — Jonkoping, Laserpitium is pretty 

 abundant. The few occurrences south of the line just mentioned fall in smaller 

 areas with undulating terrain. 



This remarkable distribution limit of Laserpitium may to some extent be de- 



24 Geo^^rafiska. Annaler rgij. 



