THE CONTINENTAL FLORA OF SOUTH SWEDEN 



301 



Seseli libanotis. Trifolium montanum is absent in the whole of eastern Skane, 

 a fact that can hardly depend on any lack of suitable localities (cf. p. 315). 



Os-slopes in Snuiland. It is a characteristic feature of the distribution of 

 most steppe species in South Sweden that they are absent, or very scarce in 

 the so-called South Swedish highland. The more widely distributed species 

 enclose this district, for instance, Artemisia campestris (Plate 5), or embrace it 

 from the east in a curve, more or less 

 open towards the west, for instance, Tri- 

 folium montanum (Fig. 6). The absence 

 of suitable locahties to such an extent 

 would seem to be primarily connected 

 with the nature of the soil and the topo- 

 graphy. By far the larger, south-western 

 part of the » South Swedish highland* 

 in reality consists of a plateau. (»The 

 Archaean rock plateau of Smaland», De 

 Geer 1913; cf. Ahimann 1920), which is 

 hardly cultivable and for the most part 

 occupied by forests or, especially in its 

 western part, extensive moors and erica- 

 ceous heaths. (Cf. Fig. 8, p. 312). In 

 north-eastern Smaland, with adjacent parts 

 of Ostergotland and Vastergotland, where 

 the terrain is often broken the climate 

 and the nature of the soil form con- 

 siderable obstacles toxerothermous species. 



An examination of the occurrences of ^'S- ^- '^^^ "'^^''^ distribution of Trifolium .non- 

 steppe species within the district shows that 

 they are generally situated on the oses. 



The eastern half of Smaland is traversed by a great number of oses, emana- 

 ting from the central parts and stretching down to the coast in a south-easterly 

 or southerly direction (see Plate 3). On the plain along the Straits of Kalmar 

 the ridges are very conspicuous. They run close to one another and are gene- 

 rally powerfully formed. They have here a decisive influence on the contour of 

 the countryside and the geography of the settlement. In the interior of Smaland 

 there are only a small number of oses, and with a couple of exceptions they 

 consist of quite inconsiderable isolated sand or gravel hillocks. 



tanum in Scandinavia and Denmari<. 

 (O: uncertain occurrences; cf. p. 401). 



21 Geogra/iska Annaler igZ2. 



