154 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [aucust 
The vegetation of Switzerland 
Curist’s Das Pflanzenleben der Schweiz was published in 1879. A French 
translation of this work entitled La flore de la Suisse et ses origines appeared in 
1907.3 An apology is due the author and publishers for the tardiness of this 
review. The translator is E. Trécur, and the author has added a supplement 
in which he summarizes the geobotanical work that has been done since the 
publication of the first edition. As the original work has never been reviewed 
in the GAZETTE, a summary of its contents may be acceptable. 
After a brief discussion of the fundamental principles of plant distribution, 
especially the influence of climate, and migrations, the vegetational regions of 
Switzerland are described in great detail. The primary divisions are naturally 
zonal in form, since the country is so largely mountainous. The author enumer- 
rates four zones: (1) the basal zone, having considerable likeness in its flora to 
the Mediterranean region, and largely under cultivation, with the grape as the 
characteristic culture plant; (2) the zone of deciduous forest, dominated in the 
south by the chestnut, in the north by the beech; (3) the zone of coniferous 
forest, composed of spruce, fir, larch, and Cembran pine; (4) the alpine region, 
to which a third of the discussion is devoted. Here particularly the author om 
siders the problems of migration, tracing an important element among the alpine 
plants to the mountains of north-central Asia as their point of origin. The large 
endemic element of the alpine flora is also discussed at some length. 
The work is characterized by minuteness of detail, possible because of the 
thoroughness with which the Alps have been explored and studied by botanists. 
Such a work is hardly yet possible in any portion of our country. 
The supplement, which is a résumé of the work of recent students, adds 
nothing of general importance, but merely fills out details here and there. It 
would seem that in view of the great advance that has been made in the study 
of plant geography during the thirty years since the appearance of the first edi- 
tion, a better plan would have been to rewrite the whole.—WuiLL1AM S. CooPER- 
MINOR NOTICES 
Local tree floras—RAMALEY has published a thin volume+ whose really 
useful part consists of descriptions of the trees of Colorado, with analytic keys 
and a considerable number of illustrations. These will be helpful to those W 
pages on the “wild flowers” of the State, with many halftones of vegetation pes 
scenery, and a number of good outline drawings. The title, Wild flowers We 
trees of Colorado, is thus literally justified, but practically it is misleading- 
hoped from the announcement to see a popular flora embracing the commone! 
3 Curist, H., La flore de la Suisse et ses origines. pp. xiv+ 571 +119: yee 
maps 5. Bale-Geneva-Lyons: Georg & Cie. 1907. e 
4 RAMALEY, F., Wild flowers and trees of Colorado. 8vo. PP- vit 78. Aes " 
Boulder, Colo.: A. A. Greenman. 1909. : 
