Neighbourhood of Trieste, 309 



ditches were filled with Gratiola officinalis. Several British 

 plants abounded^ such as Scabiosa arvensis and Rhinanthus 

 crista-galli and major, here accompanied by Rhinanthus hir- 

 sutus^, a plant which possibly may be found in similar si- 

 tuations in our own country. The marshes of Zaule are 

 famous for Orchideae. Of that tribe I observed Orchis pyra- 

 miclalis, 0. acuminata} O. laxiflora, TLpipactis palustris, Gym- 

 nadenia conopsea, and Serapias oxyglottis, certainly identical 

 with the Serapias longipetala, as here were flowers of each 

 species to be seen on one plant. The plant I have noted as 

 Orchis acuminata exactly accords with Reichenbach's descrip- 

 tion of Defontaine^s species; nevertheless M. Tommasini in- 

 formed me that he sent it to Reichenbach as such, who sent it 

 back as Orchis variegata, identical with the German species. 



Ascending the hills of Istria, above Zaule, we found Sca- 

 biosa integrifolia and hybrida growing together — certainly 

 only one species. Trifolium patens and that beautiful shrub 

 the Colutea arborescens were common. On the hills them- 

 selves we found Athamanta Matthioli, Marrubium candidis- 

 simum, Drypis spinosa, and Silene saxifraga ; and by the road 

 side on our return to Trieste we gathered Oenanthe gymnor- 

 rhiza and Rubus tomentosus, 



III. The excursion to Monte Spaccato and the Karst is 

 probably the most characteristic of this singular country. To 

 any one but a botanist the Karst is a place to be avoided, or 

 passed over as quickly as possible. It is thus described by 

 an English writer : " It is a table land of bare limestone rock, 

 believed by geologists to correspond in age with the chalk se- 

 parating Carniola from the coast land, or Littorale. It is a 

 waste like no other; not a tree within sight, scarce a shrub or 

 even a blade of grass to relieve the painful glare of the white 

 shattered stones which strew the surface. To use the words 

 of a German traveller, the landscape might be painted with 

 ashes and chalk.'' Horrid however as the Karst thus ap- 

 pears to be to the ordinary traveller, to the botanist it is a 

 paradise blooming with rare and beautiful flowers, for every 

 crevice on its bare surface presents him with plants which 



* The seed of the Zaule plant does not however answer to Reichenbach *s 

 character of beini; " exalatus." 



