THE COLDER TEMPERATE ZONE. 59 



Colder Temperate Zone how common different kinds of the 

 Mint tribe are (Labiate), of the Crowfoots (Ranunculacece) , 

 and the Composite. A German flora is altogether filled 

 with names of flowers familiar to our eyes, and vegetation 

 shows the same character unchanged as far as the Yolga. 



Beyond this river we come to a totally different and less 

 pleasing scene. The steppes of the Don Cossack country 

 are "local phenomena, and exhibit a vegetation quite pecu- 

 liar to themselves." " The undulating prairie, covered with 

 a short dry grass, interspersed with quantities of wild Thyme 

 and lilac Crocuses, stretches away illimitably, and looks like 

 an ocean regaining its tranquillity after a three days' storm ; 

 for miles we do not meet a soul." Such is the impression 

 on the unbotanical traveller. The "lilac Crocuses" were 

 most likely the Meadow Saffron (Colchicum), as the time 

 when they were seen was in the autumn : the black Hen- 

 bane (Hyoscyamus niger) is said to luxuriate along the banks 

 of the Don. The vegetation on the sandy steppes is com- 

 posed of grasses with rigid, rolled-up leaves, and of different 

 kinds of Goosefoot (Chenopodium) ; which, though they may 

 want the attraction of showy flowers, have at least the merit 

 of being always " content to live, upon the least that Heaven 

 can give." 



