Vegetation of Dalmatia. 



Art. II. On the Vegetation of Dalmatia. By Baron von Welden, 

 General in the Austrian Service, and late Governor of Dalmatia. 

 Translated and communicated by Mrs. Palliser. 



[The isolated position of Dalmatia renders this country so little 

 known to the rest of the European w^orld, that the follov^^ing 

 notice upon its botany, by General Welden, its late governor, 

 may not be unacceptable to the English reader, more especially: 

 as nothing more recent has since appeared upon the subject. 

 To the young gardener, it will be interesting in various points of 

 view; but more especially in teaching such as propose to become 

 botanical collectors, how to explore and describe the botany of 

 any country. As facilities for travelling to and in foreign coun- 

 tries are increased, it will, in all probability, soon be considered 

 a part of a first-rate gardener's education, to have been sent out 

 as a botanical collector : indeed, even now, there are never fewer 

 than from fifteen to twenty British gardeners travelling or re- 

 siding in foreign countries, solely as collectors, either on account 

 of private individuals, or of associations, or on their own account. 

 The excellent article which now appears for the first time in an 

 English dress will teach every gardener who reads it the inva- 

 luable art of observing, and also that of generalising on what 

 he has seen. We hope, also, that it may induce some wealthy 

 individual to send a collector to Dalmatia. At all events, one, we 

 trust, will soon be sent to explore the Ionian Islands, in which 

 there are, doubtless, many other interesting plants, besides the 

 Cephalonian fir, lately introduced. — Cond.'] 



My long residence in Dalmatia enables me to speak with con- 

 fidence upon the aspect of the plants of that country, which I 

 have carefully examined myself during every season of the year. 

 With regard to the nature of the soil, which so much influences 

 the character of vegetation, it is throughout calcareous, forming 

 large clefts and basins, in which the water loses itself, again to 

 appear in other places. 



The mountainous formation of the higher regions is primitive 

 floetz limestone, of a greyish colour, and compact in its nature : 

 it is often mixed with red oxide of iron. The formation of the 

 lower regions is a true yellowish white Jura chalk, which is 

 abundantly mixed with hornstone, organic remains, nummulites, 

 shells, and even with the skeletons of fishes, and with Crustacea 

 The remains of plants are found in a bluish grey marly chalk, 

 which passes also into sandstone. Where the primitive limestone 

 predominates, the water disappears in the subterraneous caverns, 

 which it has itself formed in these rocks, and only comes to light 

 again in the marly or sandy masses of the valleys. 



A mass, consisting of a friable marl, brown clay, and brown 



n 3 



