252 



Remarks on the most Important Plant-Societies of the Island. 



Passg'ala d. 6 Maj. 1843." (PI Pers. bor. no. 107)— the hairs occurred 

 even on the subterranean part of the petioles of the basal leaves. — Cases 

 of hair-formations on the subterranean part of the stem serving as root-hairs 

 are, as far as I have been able to gather from botanical literature, of very 

 unfrequent occurrence among the higher plants.^) As a characteristic 

 feature in certain species of the genus Coryclalis the fact was long ago 

 noted by descriptive botanists. Thus, in 1840 J. G. Zuccaeini writes 

 in his description of C. Ei'deUi Zucc. (which modern authors agree in 

 identifying with C. rutaefolia): "Caulis herbaceus, simplicissiraus, erectus 

 vel in parte inferiore subterranea adseendens et librillis tenuibus dense 

 vestitus, superne uti tota planta glaber." The fibrils are quite distinct 

 in his delineation of the plant. =) Further H. Schott, in 18,54, in his 

 description of C. rutaefolia says; "Caules .... sub terra horizontaliter 

 protracti, ibique spongiolis radicinis dense hirsuti." •') I have found no 

 mention of the fact in modern ecological literature. 



Prominent among the above described plants are a number of 

 endemic species, not found outside Cyprus, and even there — as far as 

 yet ascertained — confined to the Chionistra. or at least to the central 

 part of the Troodos mountains. However, the vernal vegetation of the 

 other peaks of the Troodos is as yet insufficiently investigated. During 

 August 1905 the present author had the opportunity of ascending the 

 principal peaks of the chain, amongst others the Adelphi, Paputsa, Stavro- 

 pevkos and Kionia; but the bulk of herbaceous plants were at that time 

 of the year dried up. 



It appears from the following list of the Chionistia mountain- 

 field vegetation that several of the plants are also natives of the Lebanon 

 and of the southern mountains of Asia Minor. Evidently the accordance 

 with the vegetation of these mountain groups is much greater than with 

 the mountain flora of Crete or of other countries to the westward. Some 

 of the plants implied, amongst others the two species of Pou, Brumus 

 tectorum, Silene venosa, and Cystopteris fragilis, are widely distributed in 

 the eastern, and partly also in the western, hemisphere; the latter, 

 which grows in ci'annies in the rocks, etc. can, however, hardly be classed 

 with the mountain-field vegetation properly speaking. 



In the following a list of the species belonging to the mountain- 

 field vegetation, as observed on the Chionistra, is drawn up: 



Cystopteris fragilis 



Juniperus foetidissima 



Poa bullosa f. vivipara 



P. pratertsis var. angustifolia 



Bromus tectorum 



Hordeum Caput Medusae subsp. crinitum 



( 



Pig. 94. Gonjdalis rutaefolia 1)('. (Vi)- 



The Asterisk indicates the Surface of 



the Soil. 



') Op. G. Haberlandt, Physiologische Pflanzenanatomie, Zweite Auflag 

 p. 193. Leipzig 189H. 



-) J. G. ZnccAEiNi, Plantarum novaruui vel minus coguitarum, quae in horto 

 botanico herbarioque regie Monacensi aervantur Fasciculus Quartus, p. 2.'i2, tab. 9, 

 fig. 2—3 (Abhandl. Miincli. Acad. VI. Milnchen 1840). 



') H. Schott, Cri/pfocerns rntiMium Schott et Kotschy (Oesterr. bot. Wochenbl. 

 IV, p. 121. 1854). 



1 



