383 



[TRANSLATION.] 

 ON THE FLORA. OF SOUTHERN ITALIAN SOMALILAND. 



In Southern Italian Somaliland, desert formations are 

 altogether wanting. The flora of the hygrophilous type is 

 limited to the forests along the Juba and less on the banks of 

 the Uebi Scebeli, in the swamps along the borders of the 

 Lower Juba, in the region of Balli, where the waters of the 

 Uebi Scebeli disperse themselves, and in the mangrove 

 formation at the mouth of the Juba and at other points of 

 the coast. 



The remainder of the country is occupied by xerophilous 

 flora, which may be divided into several zones as hereafter 

 shown, taking into account, especially, the nature of the soil. 



1. Zone of the permanent dunes along the entire coast, of 

 an average width of from 15 to 20 kilometres, with low acacias 

 and umbelliferous plants predominating. 



2. Alluvial plain of the Juba and of the Scebeli, with a pre- 

 dominance of prairies constituted by low graminacese with 

 very few leguminous plants between; in the damper localities, 

 as, for instance, along the Juba, the graminaceous plants of 

 from one to three metres in height predominate ; sometimes the 

 low prairie transforms itself into park-land with trees standing 

 at considerable distances from each other, mostly acacias and 

 tcrminalias. 



3. Lands of calcareous origin still farther towards the 

 interior, rocky and alluvial, with dense woods purely xero- 

 philous and showing very few herbaceous plants. 



4. Sandy and siliceous land of granitic origin, intermixed 

 with the preceding formations in the lower parts; here the 

 flora is of a less xerophilous nature and the other less densely 

 grown parts recall to mind a park formation; the herbaceous 

 vegetation is chiefly represented by graminaceous, cypera- 

 ceous, and leguminous plants. 



5. Chalk zone, still farther towards the interior, with a 

 xerophilous flora, as in the calcareous lands, with gypsophilous 

 and alophilous plants. 



The native plantations are chiefly in the alluvial districts 

 along the rivers, or in the interior, as, for instance, at Baidoa. 



SUR L'EXPLORATION DE LA FLORE DE L'ASIE RUSSE. 

 Par BORIS DE FEDTSCHENKO, 



Principal Botanist, Imperial Botanic Garden of Peter the 

 Great, St. Petersburg. 



[No abstract supplied by the author.] 



