278 RIKARD STERNER 



trict between the rivers Alsteraii and l^man from the parishes of Ramkvilla and 

 South Solberga in the west to those of MaHUa, Fagelfors and Hackebo in the 

 east; the parishes of Tuna and Misterhult; the Misterhult — Vastervik coastal 

 skerries; and northern Tjust from Dalhem— Lofta and East Ed in the south; 

 south-eastern Ostergotland (south and east of the Hues S:t Annae — East Ryd — 

 Varna — Grebo, and easternmost Kattilstad) and the neighbourhood of Omberg; 

 Falbygden; SodermanLind (the neighbourhood of Nykoping and the country round 

 LakeBaven); Vastmanland (Kolback and Sala); and Gastrikland (the neighbourhood 

 of Gavle). In ip2i: Smaland (the neighbourhood to the east and south-east of 

 Safsjo and tlie westerly parishes of southern Tjust); Ostergotland (the Stanga 

 valley, the neighbourhood of Kisa and the border-lands towards Tjust); Soderman- 

 land (Rekarne and the central part of the province from Malmkoping towards 

 Trosa). — Besides the above, I have also made less thorough journeys in western 

 Smaland, on the Vastgota plain and in South Halland. 



In each of these years I made a number of excursions in Uppland, especially 

 in the neighbourhood of Upsala. Besides, comprehensive phytogeographical stu- 

 dies in Oland have to some extent been used for this treatise. In the summer 

 of igiy I visited Gotland and examined certain plant-communities of a continental 

 type. 



The material used by me certainly very nearly contains all that is at present 

 known about the distribution of the species here treated. Parts of South Sweden 

 being still imperfectly known as to their flora, there are certain gaps in the ma- 

 terial. The more important of these are parts of Smaland, especially the district 

 U) the north of the upper Ema valley, between Vimmerby and Eksjo. 



An important (juestion is how far the material may be deemed accurate. The 

 possibility of errors in one statement or an other can hardly be denied. False sta- 

 tements liave been laid bare as well in literature as in the herbaria of our mu- 

 seums. I have found it necessary to treat the material from these sources critic- 

 cally as far as i)ossible, and I have omitted or specially marked the statements I 

 have found doubtful. 



It is naturally of special importance to know in what degree the information 

 given to me by other persons is reliable. In most cases the competence of the 

 informants would seem to exclude an}- suspicion of errors in the statements. 

 Further, the information in question is often the result of researches made with 

 special regard to the species required by me and thus not given from memory. 

 The reliability of the material would also seem to be increased by easily ob- 

 served and not critical species being chosen for the inquiries. Besides, it is clear 

 that, ever since the material reached a certain extent, I also got fairly great 

 possibilities of directly judging the reliability of the statements. For instance, 

 my knowledge of the habitat conditions of the species rendered me capable of 



