Vegetationsbilder

Abstract

THE sixth series of the “Vegetationsbilder” fully maintains the reputation of the preceding volumes. The pictures of Samoan vegetation furnish an indication of the humidity of the climate where ferns supply 25 per cent. of the higher plants. Illustrations are provided of Polypodium sab auriculatum, an epiphyte in the rain forest, Angiopteris evccta, growing by the streams, and Todea Fraseri, an endemic species of the genus, also of a peculiar liliaceous epiphyte, Astelia montana. As characteristic plants of the Solomon Islands there are figured the epiphyte Polypodium quercifolium, an expanse of “alang-alang” grass, Imperata arundinacea, and a huge specimen of Calophyllum inophyllum growing close to the sea. A fine photograph of the stilt-roots of a Ficus is contained in this part. Mr. E. Ule has contributed the photographs from the “campos” in the Brazilian State of Bahia. Various cactus plants are illustrated, also some of the abundant leguminous trees. The cluster of palms, Copernicia cerifera, the species yielding Carnauba wax, forms an imposing group. The number devoted to the Algerian Sahara is also a xerophytic study. The plates include representations of Limoniastrum Feël, Aristida pungens, and Pistacia terebinthus. In the final double number Dr. Schenck presents some excellent studies of plants in the Swiss and Tyrolese Alps. The photographs that more particularly evoke admiration are those showing cushions of Androsace helvetica, flowers of Ranunculus alpestris, clumps of Thlaspi rotundifolia, and straggling plants of Salix retusa.

Vegetationsbilder.

Edited by G. Karsten H. Schenck. Sixth Series. Part i., Samoa. By Karl Rechinger. Part ii., New Guinea Archipelago. By Karl Rechinger. Part iii., North-Eastern Brazil. By E. Ule. Part iv., The Algerian Sahara. By H. Brockmann Jerosch and A. Heim. Parts v. and vi., Alpine Vegetation. By H. Schenck. (Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1908.)