This article was downloaded by: [Carnegie Mellon University] On: 21 January 2015, At: 06:18 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Scottish Geographical Magazine Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rsgj19 Botanical survey of Scotland. I. Edinburgh district Robert Smith B.Sc. a a University College , Dundee Published online: 27 Feb 2008. To cite this article: Robert Smith B.Sc. (1900) Botanical survey of Scotland. I. Edinburgh district, Scottish Geographical Magazine, 16:7, 385-416, DOI: 10.1080/00369220008733170 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00369220008733170 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. 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Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and- conditions Downloaded by [Carnegie Mellon University] at 06:18 21 January 2015 THE SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE. BOTANICAL SURVEY OF SCOTLAND. I. EDINBUEGH DISTRICT. By ROBERT SMITH, B.SC., University College, Dundee. THE map accompanying the present paper is offered as a first contribu- tion towards a botanical survey of Scotland, presenting the results of a closer study than has hitherto been attempted of the outstanding features of the vegetation. Since the summer of 1896 I have systematically surveyed most of the area included within the basins of the Tay and Forth, and although future work will doubtless suggest improvements and additions, enough seems now completed to warrant the publication of some of the results, to explain the method, and to invite co-operation in the task. Two sheets have been selected for present publication : one illustrating the district of Edinburgh, and the other that of North Perthshire—districts representative of Lowlands and Highlands respec- tively. The Edinburgh sheet accompanies the present paper, and the Highland sheet will follow in the August number of this Magazine. Before passing to the detailed explanation of the map, it may "be Downloaded by [Carnegie Mellon University] at 06:18 21 January 2015 well to review briefly work of a similar nature already begun in other countries. Within recent years, increased attention has been paid by all students of the distribution of natural phenomena to the detailed or topographical aspects of the vegetation. The meteorologist has been attracted by the correlation between the distribution of plant life and the climate, the geologist by the connection between the vegetation and the nature of the subjacent soil and rock, and the general geographer by the conspicuous part that the vegetation plays in the landscape; whilst the agriculturist and forester recognise the value of the study of the natural vegetation in deciding what cultivated plants may be expected to yield fruitful crops over any particular area. VOL. XVI. 2 D 386 SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE. 1 have recently discussed elsewhere (23)1 the general programme of a vegetation survey. The chief points to be considered may be summarised as follows :— (a) The chief zones or regions, characterised by definite plant associa- tions, into which the district may be most conveniently divided. (b) The particular conditions of heat, light, moisture, and food dis- tinguishing each zone or region. (c) The adaptations of the plant species to their environment. (d) The relations existing between the species, i.e. which species are dominant, which secondary and struggling for position, and which dependent upon the dominant species for shelter or for food. (e) The influence of animals and of man upon the associations. (/) The general conditions of climate and of vegetation in the district compared with those in other districts. Organised survey of the vegetation has not yet advanced far in Britain, and most of the facts which have been collected are scattered throughout general works, statistical accounts of particular districts, and introductions to local floras. On the Continent, however, there are already many excellent monographs giving very detailed accounts of particular regions, as for example certain by Drude (9), Pax (17), Eadde (18), and.others; and in the United States the vegetation has been included as one of the divisions of the government survey. Until quite recently, vegetation maps were limited to the exhibiting of the broad zones and regions of the globe, such as are dependent on the great agents of distribution—sunlight, heat, and rainfall [the " geographical agents " of Drude (8)]. Yet as far back as the first decade of the nineteenth century, A. P. de Candolle (7) had planned out an elaborate map of France, intended to show the more detailed aspects of the distribution of plants, such as are dependent on the contour of the earth's surface, the physical and chemical nature of the soil, the com- petition between the species, etc. [the " topographical agents " of Drude (8)]. Unfortunately for the interests of science, he was unable, from political and other reasons, to carry out his project. A special difficulty with which he had to contend was the incompleteness of such topographical maps as were then available. Now, however, excellent maps, on which scientific observations may be recorded, are furnished by the Ordnance Surveys of most civilised countries, and the progress Downloaded by [Carnegie Mellon University] at 06:18 21 January 2015 already made with geological surveys will facilitate comparisons between the vegetation and the subjacent soil. Amongst the more detailed maps of the present day, an important place must be given to those constructed by the staff of the Department of Agriculture, U.S.A. (16). They represent North America divided into a number of latitudinal life-zones, each zone indicating a definite assemblage of plants, both natural and cultivated, an associated group of animals, and associated human industries. The most complete vegetation map which has yet been attempted is 1 These numbers refer to the bibliographical list at the end of the paper. BOTANICAL SURVEY OF SCOTLAND. 387 that of France, now being prepared by Professor Flahault of Montpellier University, and of which the first sheet appeared in July 1897 (13). For its full description the reader is referred to the paper which accom- panied it, along with its review in the Scottish Geographical Magazine for October 1897. On the present occasion, however, it is necessary to point out the principle upon which it is based, as it was largely by the experience gained while accompanying Professor Flahault on numerous surveying expeditions in France that I have been able to conduct similar experi- ments in Scotland, and to prepare the map which is now issued. Professor Flahault's survey is essentially based on the distribution of • the tree vegetation. A number of the trees of Europe are what are called " social " species, i.e. they tend to form forests where one species prevails, to the more or less complete exclusion of all others. Thus we find forests where beech, oak, or pine may predominate. Each tree has its own particular requirements, which limit it to definite regions dependent upon the prevalent climatic, soil, and other conditions. Thus, from a geographical point of view, forests of a particular tree indicate particular climatic and soil conditions ; from a botanical point of view, the presence of particular associations of subordinate species ; and from an economic point of view, regions suitably situated for the growth of certain cultivated species and for certain industries. Professor Flahault has, after careful consideration, selected certain trees which appear to be most characteristic in these respects. It is only necessary to study the attractive sheet which has been published, to see how well he has accomplished his task. Those who have had the good fortune to accompany him in the field know the singular and almost instinctive faculty which Professor Flahault has of seizing, as it were at a glance, such essential features of the vegetation. The principle upon which such a map of the vegetation is based will be seen to be quite different from that of " floristic " maps, where the object is to show the actual areas of distribution of the species in such a way that they may be easily compared. This can be accomplished by representing the area of each species on separate maps of similar scale, as was begun for Britain by Watson in 1843 (28, 29), or on one map, as was attempted by Schübeier for Norway in 1878 (21). Those maps are of importance in the consideration of questions of the dispersion and migration of species. Vegetation maps, on the other hand—such as those prepared by Professor Flahault, or those of the Downloaded by [Carnegie Mellon University] at 06:18 21 January 2015 present series—are not primarily concerned with the precise limits of the individual species, but show rather the distribution of a number of selected communities of plants which exist associated in nature.