2 6o 
H. Hamshaw Thomas. 
SKETCHES OF VEGETATION AT HOME AND ABROAD. 
VII.— The Vegetation of the Island of Gothland. 
By H. Hamshaw Thomas. 
[With Plates IV and V.] 
Introduction. 
I N the Baltic Sea, about 60 miles from the Swedish Coast, lies 
the Island of Gothland. Though in the Middle Ages it was 
one of the most important places in Northern Europe, it is now of 
no great commercial importance, yet it is of great interest to the 
botanist and to the antiquarian. As early as 1623 some of its 
more noticeable plants were described, while about a hundred years 
later Linnaeus greatly extended the list of species. Since that 
time the flora has not lacked the attention of Swedish botanists 
and in 1897 Dr. K. Johansson 1 published an important paper dealing 
in an interesting manner with some of the ecological aspects of 
the flora. As far as I am aware, however, no survey of the vegetation 
of the island has been made on modern lines. 
General Characters of the Island. 
The Island is about 70 miles long and 20 miles across, the 
total area being about 1220 square miles; the population is about 
52,000, and most of the inhabitants are occupied in agriculture. 
Visby, the ancient Hanseatic city, is the only large town, but the 
country is thickly studded with small villages, each of which 
usually possesses a beautiful little church. On the east of the 
island is a small port, Slite, and some of the Finland Line of 
steamers, sailing from Hull to Helsingfors, call there for passengers 
and cargo. Roughly speaking, about half of the island is covered 
by more or less primitive vegetation, chiefly pine-forests and marsh¬ 
land, but large tracts of original fen have been reclaimed and are 
now used as pasture for cattle: cattle-rearing is one of the chief 
industries of the country. 
Physical Conditions. 
Owing to its insular position the climate differs somewhat 
from that of the mainland of Sweden. The Ivy and Walnut, which 
are both rare in Sweden, grow here in many places. The average 
1 Johansson, K. “ Gotlands vaxttopografi och vaxtgeografi.” 
K, Svenska Vet. Akad. Hand., Bd. 29, Ne. 1, 1897, 
