the Mountains of Ternova, 237 



which itself is the summit of an extended elevation raised as 

 it were on the high plain of the Karst. 



My distinguished friend Mr. Tommasini, of Trieste, has for 

 some time past been occupied with a Flora of Illyria, and 

 these mountains have furnished him with some of its richest 

 ornaments, they having been scarcely examined since the days 

 of Scopoli. There still remained several elevations of the 

 group to be explored, and as the promise of a good harvest 

 was great, I gladly accepted the invitation of M. Tommasini 

 to join him in an excursion to the unexplored part. Accord- 

 ingly 1 met him at Goritzia on Tuesday, the 26th of June, and 

 on the same day, with a proper stock of materials, botanical 

 and gastronomical, vascula and bottles, boards, plates, bread 

 and paper, we set off in a wicker cart for the mountains, our 

 first object being to reach the village of Chapovano, in the 

 heart of the forest (a distance of about 30 miles), by night. 

 After following the course of the river Izonzo, remarkable for 

 the white colour of its waters, we commenced ascending the 

 mountains at about 6 miles from Goritzia. The point of ascent is 

 the locality given by Reichenbach for the true Athamanta Mat- 

 thioli of Wulfen,the only known locality, and there we found it. 

 But assuredly it does not specifically differ from the Athaman- 

 ta rupestris of Scopoli, which I had gathered the week before 

 at its recorded habitat near Trieste. The differences arise from 

 situation, and are in themselves scarcely sufficient to consti- 

 tute a variety, much less a species. Had Reichenbach seen the 

 two plants in their nativ£ stations he would doubtless have 

 recognized their identity ; but he has probably in this case, as 

 in many others, been deceived by the fallacious experiment of 

 cultivation ; assuredly no test of specific character, as the fleet- 

 ing difference of the field not unfrequently becomes (abnorm- 

 ally) permanent in the garden. Along with the Athamanta grew 

 the Phyteuma Scheuchzeri and the Dianthus monspeliacus. 



After rattling up and down several steep hills in our basket- 

 like vehicle we changed it for ponies at a village a few miles 

 beyond the church of Monte Santo, and commenced ascend- 

 ing again. On the way the Flora gradually changed from that 

 of the Karst to a more alpine character, and the vegetation 

 assumed a more northern aspect. Phyteuma nigra, certainly 

 only a variety of Phyteuma spicata, which grew along with it. 



