350 GEOGRAPHICAL BOTANY. 



(Turgenice, sp. D. C.) ; Rhabdosciadium, one of the Scan- 

 dicinese from Persia ; T/iecocarpus, from the same place 

 and from the same division ; Osmosciadium, one of the 

 Coriandrese, from Cappadocia. 



C. Koch's travels to the Caucasus (Reise durch Russ- 

 land nach dem Kaukasischen Isthmus in den J. 1836-8. 

 Bd. i, ii. Stuttgard, 1842-3) contains reports upon the 

 autumnal vegetation of Ossetia and Imiretia, as also upon 

 the vernal flora of Russian Armenia ; the author's inves- 

 tigations were subsequently interrupted by protracted 

 illness, but he finally resumed them in a second journey. 

 In the military road of the Caucasus, Koch represents 

 the prairies of Kabarda, near Uruch, as very luxuriant 

 and abundant in plants ; herbs and the Grasses grow here 

 in such luxuriance, that a man can readily conceal him- 

 self without lying down (i, p. 250). The Graminaceae 

 are mostly the same as the meadow-grasses of central 

 Europe, whilst among the shrubs many Caucasian species 

 are met with ; they are diffused by the rivers over these 

 surfaces which are situated opposite to the high mountain 

 chain. By this circumstance and the development of the 

 vegetation in the height of summer, when the Russian 

 heaths are burnt up, the meadows of Kabarda differ 

 essentially from the steppes, with which C. Koch has 

 compared them. In fact, judging from certain kinds of 

 plants, the steppe climate still prevails here ; this is shown 

 by the Artemisise, Cynaraceee, and Astragalacese ; but the 

 influence of the neighbouring mountains modifies the 

 character of the vegetation as determined by the climate. 

 The plants of the steppes are destroyed in the summer 

 by the drought, whilst Kabarda is well watered from the 

 Caucasus. 



C. Koch remained during October in Ossetia, in the 

 middle of the high Caucasus, and the offsets connecting 

 it towards the south with the Armenian highlands, and 

 then travelled in Imiretia until the end of the year, cer- 

 tainly too late a period to allow of the botanical character 

 of the country being completely ascertained. The reports 



