Contributions from the Botanical Laboratory, vol. 9 (1892) (20065382384)

Title: Contributions from the Botanical Laboratory, vol. 9
Identifier: contributionsfro09univ (find matches)
Year: 1892 (1890s)
Authors: University of Pennsylvania. Botanical Laboratory
Subjects: Botany; Botany
Publisher: Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press
Contributing Library: Penn State University
Digitizing Sponsor: Lyrasis Members and Sloan Foundation

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361 William Seipriz I. THE ALTITUDINAL DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS ON THE CRIMEAN MOUNTAINS (With Plates XIV-XVII and three Figures in the Text.) The success of the botanical study of the Crimea here presented is largely due to Mr V. F. Vasiliev, upon whom rested the final identification of all plants collected. Mr Vasiliev, with typical Russian courtesy, planned and conducted the trip into the mountains. His published accounts^ of the Crimean flora have been of great help in the writing of this article. I am further indebted to Mr N. V. Kovaliev, Director of the Nikita Gardens, for officially assuming half of the responsibility of the trip. The flora. Plant geography is an old subject. The evident and superficial things have been done. To add anything of fundamental significance now requires years of intensive and extensive work which must be left to those residing in the country. The chance visitor can grasp only something of the outstanding botanical features of the region; his glimpses assume a more substantial nature, and become of some real value, only when he has the help of the taxonomic specialists of the country. The Crimea, or Krim, is a peninsula projecting into the Black Sea from the south coast of Kussia. A very narrow strip of land saves the Crimea from being an island which it more resembles. It is of irregular shape, considerably broader than long. The 45th parallel passes across the peninsula, dividing the Crimea into two geographically distinct regions, the southern mountainous coastal strip, 30 miles in width, and the broad northern steppe which con- stitutes more than two-thirds of the total area of the state. The capital, Simferopol, is a few miles south of latitude 45°. The Crimean Mountains attain their maximum height close to the coast (Fig. 1). Here they rise to an altitude of 1500 m. within 8 km. of the shore. At one point an altitude of 1200 m. is reached within 3 km. of the shore; this is the peak Ai-Petri. It is impossible to refer to individual mountains in the coastal range, as the top is one extensive plateau known as the Yaila. The main portion of the plateau is some 30 km. in length, varying from J to 5 km. in width. The highest point, with an altitude of 1540 m., is toward the eastern end, just above the town of Yalta2. * "Die Vegetationsverhaltnisse der Gegend Sudak-Aluschta" (published in Russian with a German summary). Journ. Gov. Bot. Oard. Nikita, Yalta, Crimea, 10 (2), 1928. 2 The spelling of Russian words has been much influenced by German translations and by historical traditions. The transliterations adopted here aim not only at correct pronunciation, but also at retaining the Russian spelling in so far as this is possible. Pronunciation is of greater importance than spelling, and where it is necessary to change the latter to achieve the former, I have done so. There are naturally certain minute shades in pronunciation which only Russians Vegetation oj some Southern Provinces of Soviet Russia 302 Crimea's coast has long been famed as Russia's riviera (Fig. \). The largest of the south-coast towns is Yalta. Several miles east of Yalta are the Nikita Botanic Gardens, consisting of 500 acres extending up from the shore to the village of Nikita. Immediately above Nikita rises a high spur which projects southward toward the coast from the main Yaila plateau (Fig. 1). The journey into the mountains leads from the Nikita Gardens up along the west slope of what I shall call the Nikita spur, over the Yaila plateau, and part way down the north side of the coastal range to the former monastery of Kozmo Damian where the night is spent. The return trip may be made by way of the east slope of the spur. 5EVAST0P0
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UU5HTA GURZUF IMTA QARDEN-S YAL.TA Fig. 1. The southern tip of the Crimea showing the Yaila plateau. The Crimea lies in the southern part of the temperate zone with only the suggestion of a tropical flora. Ripe figs, Ailanthus, and the leguminous tree Albizzia, together with a hot and dry summer, remind one of the Near East, but the absence of cultivated palms and the scarcity of citrus fruits indicate that the Crimea has a winter not tropical in nature. The average summer (August) temperature at Nikita is 24-6'^ C, and the winter (January) tern- can accomplish. It seems best, for English readers, to use " j" for the sound of "s" in "pleasure,'* and "y" for the Russian H, the sound in the pronoun "ye": thus "Yalta" and not "Jalta" for the Crimean seaside town. Whether to use "v," "ff" or "w" for the familiar ending to many Russian words is a question which is answered as one wishes. The Russian letter which ends words of this sound is "b." This is not our "b," for which the Russians have another letter, but our "v." Since "v" gives the sound fairly well, it is the best of the three possible transcriptions, as it conforms not only to pronunciation but to Russian spelling. For the same reason 1 much prefer "Buchara" for the Turkestan city to the familiar English transcription " Bokhara," which gives neither the Russian spelling nor the Russian pronunciation. The addition of "c" m "Buchara" is necessary to approach more closely to the Russian pronunciation.

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