65 



Notes on a Botanical Tour in Germany. 



By Joseph Woods, Esq., F.L.S. 



(Continued from page 42). 



On the 22nd July I set off in company with Mr. G. Woods, on an 

 expedition to the Schneeberg ; a mountain, I believe not quite 7,000 

 feet high, but which always retains a portion of snow in the upper 

 hollows, and may be considered as the most easterly of this limestone 

 chain of the Alps. We took the railroad to Felixdorf, where we got 

 an Einspanner to Gutenstein, at the edge of the mountain district. 

 Three or four rocky romantic valleys here unite, and a beautiful little 

 park, with very pleasant and easy walks, give us a great variety of 

 charming scenery. The botany is as good as the scenery, and a very 

 short walk produced Silene saxifraga, Arenaria grandiflora, Galium 

 aristatum, and Moehringia muscosa. 



Euphorbia saxatalis, Potentilla caulescens and Seseli glaucum 

 also grow on the rocks about. It is a point where a large portion of 

 the plants of the limestone hills already enumerated meet with those 

 which descend from the mountains. The Schneeberg is divided into 

 two great parts, the Kuh Schneeberg, which does not rise above the 

 region of the spruce fir, and the Great Schneeberg, which is, perhaps, 

 nearly 2,000 feet higher. We directed our course through the woods 

 to the hollow between the two, and then keeping to the right, made 

 our way to a sort of inn which has lately been erected on the Kuh 

 Schneeberg. The external circuit of this mountain seems to be 

 everj'where steep and rocky. The summit is far from flat, but rises 

 into knolls, two or three hundred feet high, with but little of exposed 

 rock. The fir-trees, as they fall, are mostly left to rot upon the 

 ground, as not worth the labour of carrying them down, and conse- 

 quently the soil is everywhere composed of decaying wood, while the 

 trunks and branches, which still retain some solidity, make rambling 

 about a work of difficulty. On the ascent, we observed the leaves of 

 Helleborus niger in great abundance ; Pyrola secunda, P. rotundi- 

 folia, and P. uniflora were also plentiful, but except a stray specimen 

 or two, out of flower. Veratrum album is common among all the 

 lower hills. Senecio subalpinus of Koch grows in the woods. Ru- 

 mex alpinus is in enormous abundance about the cattle-establish- 

 ments on the top, and with it grows Cineraria crispa. 



Aspidium montanum occurs on the ascent ; and on the rocky crest 

 of the mountain, Veronica saxatilis. 



We slept in the Kuh Schneeberg. The night cold and windy ; 

 Vol. II. K 



