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



above, represent the chief fuel for the population in the steppe-districts. On the roads may be seen great 

 caravanes of donkeys and mules, which on their backs carry great loads of these shrubs to the villatres 

 and towns, where they are sold to the poorer part of the population. 



Together with the shrubs, already mentioned, grow various gramineous and herbaceous plants, 

 among which several are already spoken of in the description of the grass-steppes and the rock-steppes. 

 The vegetation is, however, as a rule still poorer in species, and less varying than in the two other types of 

 steppe-societies. Of herbs, frequently found in such places, may for instance be mentioned Salvia verhenacm, 

 Parentucellia latifolia, Tunica velntina and Lathyrns Uepharicarpus ; of grasses: Koehleria phleoides, S<y;a 

 tortilis and the little delicate Psilurus aristatus. Many species are distinctly protected against di-ought; 

 thus may be mentioned the peculiar little species of onion, Allium Cupani, the bulb and the lower part 

 of the stem of which are densely covered by a thick layer of reticularly ravelled tunics (Fig. 107). 

 Similar tunics has also the little Gixgea reticulata var. tenuifolia, which I found growing in steppe-societies 

 at Hagia Napa in company with Sanguisorba spinosu. 



At places, where the rocky ground is visible beyond the soil, grow as in the grass-steppes Telmissa 

 microcarp)a and Sedum jwrphyreum. Such localities are also specially favourable for some small annual 

 species of grasses, as for instance Koehleria phleoides. 



In the following will be given a survey of the spring-vegetation in au arid, stony Sayiguisorha 

 sj)»iosa-steppe, in the neighbourhood of the village of Hagia Napa, near to the South-Eastern end of the 

 island, about 15—20 m. above the level of the sea, as it appeared to me in the first week of the month 

 of March 1905. Of dwarf-shrubs were seen: Sanguisorba spinosa (in great quantities), Cahjcotomc 

 villosa (sparse). Of herbs: Helichrysum rupicohim subsp. brachyphyllum (numerous), Helianthemum salici- 

 folium (sparse), Salvia verhenacea (numerous), Trifolium stellatum (numerous), T. procumbens (sparse), 

 T. clypeatum (sparse), T. tomentosum (rather numerous). Tunica velutina (sparse), Polygala monspeliaca 

 (rather scarce), Vieia 2Mlaesiina (scarce), V. sericoearpa (common), V. hybrida (common), Lathyrus blephari- 

 carpus (common), Valerianella discoidea (rather numerous), Parentucellia latifolia (in quantities), Linaria 

 chalepensis (scarce), Telmissa mio-ocarpa (rather numerous), Gagea reticulata var. tenuifolia (scarce), 

 Hyaeinthus Pieridis (sparse), Plantago Coronopus (scarce), P. Lagopus (rather numerous), P. cretica (rather 

 numerous). Silene apetala (sparse), Biscutella didyma subsp. Columnae (sparse), Arenaria thymifolia (sparse), 

 Vaillantia hispida (sparse), Adonis aestivalis subsp. microcarpa (rather numerous), Anthemis cretica (rather 

 scarce), Banunculus asiaticus (with sulphur-coloured corols, sparse), Astragcdus tuberculosus (rather scarce), 

 Ornithogahim umbellatum var. minus (rather scarce), Anthemis tricolor (rather scarce). Of herbs: Koeh- 

 leria 2Meoides (rather scarce), Alopecurus anthoxanthoides (sparse). 



For a superficial observer the dwarfshrub-steppes have a great resemblance to the heath-societies 

 of the Northern tracts, particularly to the dwarfshrub-heaths. In reality these plant-societies have, 

 however, very little in common. It is the lack of moisture, which has given to the steppes their monotonous, 

 poor appearance, while the heaths owe their barren appearance to the want of nutritious matters in the soil. ') 



The dwarfshrub-steppes form such a prominent feature in the vegetation of Cyprus, that they have 

 already at an early date been subject to observation. Sanguisorba sprinosa is mentioned as early as in 1787 

 by Sestini (see Cobham, Excerpta Cypria, I, p. 290), and Unger and Kotschy point out the prominent 

 part this together with the other dwarfy shrubs play in the vegetation of the low-lands.-) 



The dwarfshrub-steppes may be said in a way to form a transition between the grass- and rock- 

 steppes, where plants with woody stems are of quite an inferior importance, and the maquis-thickets, 

 which we are going to deal with more closely on the following pages. In the dwarfshrub-steppes we may 

 find a good many of the grasses and herbs, characteristic of the other two steppe-societies, and several 

 of the shrub.s, typical of the dwarfshrub-steppes, have in the same way, in greater or smaller quantities, 



') P. Graebner, Die Heide Norddentschlauds, p. 277. (Engler u. Drude, Die Vegetation der Erde, V. Leipzig 1901). 

 -) Ungbk u. Kotschy, Die Insel Cypern, p. 10.5 and 127. 



