This article was downloaded by: [University of Ulster Library] On: 04 January 2015, At: 03:58 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 The origin and development of heather Moorland Dr. W. G. Smith Published online: 27 Feb 2008. To cite this article: Dr. W. G. Smith (1902) The origin and development of heather Moorland, Scottish Geographical Magazine, 18:11, 587-597, DOI: 10.1080/00369220208733402 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00369220208733402 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. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and- conditions Downloaded by [University of Ulster Library] at 03:58 04 January 2015 INFLUENCE OF GEOGRAPHY ON THE POPULATION OF SCOTLAND. 587 suffices to demonstrate the exaggeration involved in this theory. Even in the semi-artificial region of industrial Scotland we have seen that if man modifies the details of his environment it is only while con- tinuing to respect its main features. This is the main geographical fact. The general conclusion, then, is that anthropo-geographical in- vestigations show that in this domain, as elsewhere, man only commands nature by obeying her. THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF HEATHER MOORLAND. By Dr. W. G. SMITH. AN important contribution on regional botanical survey has recently been published in a monograph on the Moorlahd Heaths of North-West Germany by Dr. Paul Graebner.1 As the author has been unable to give special attention to recent work in Britain, a comparative review seems not unnecessary. The moors of Northern Germany have been examined by Graebner for the past ten years, and his earlier papers were used as references in preparing the scheme of botanical survey suggested by the late Robert Smith.2 Dr. Graebner's latest work finds a fitting place in the series of monographs on the vegetation of the earth issued by Professors Engler and Drude. In our opinion it ranks amongst the best of these. From the point of view of botanical survey, the vegetation of the un- cultivated moorland has a special interest, for there the influence of man is least apparent, and the natural agencies of soil and air exert their influence on plant-growth with least disturbance. The various types of moorland, where the dominant vegetation consists of heather (Calluna), with a well-marked set of associated species, are so characteristic in Northern Europe and the mountainous parts of Europe generally, that they form an ever-present problem. The list of papers quoted by Graebner extends to twelve pages, and is evidence of the interest taken by the plant-geographer in the distribution of heather vegetation, and by the biologist in the exquisite adaptations to environment presented Downloaded by [University of Ulster Library] at 03:58 04 January 2015 by Calluna, Erica, Vaccinium, and other associates. The area of Dr. Graebner's observations—the North German plain— has been compared to " an old Frisian mantle, made of coarse sackcloth, but fringed with silk"; the silk fringe is the grassy pastures of the Dutch and Frisian cattle country, the sackcloth is the barren heath of 1 Die Vegetation der Erde, edited by Engler and Drude : vol. v. Die Heide Norddeutsch- lands, by Dr. Paul Graebner. Reviews of the preceding volumes have already appeared in this magazine. 2 Smith, Robert, Botanical Survey of Scotland: I. Edinburgh district; II. Northern Perthshire. John Bartholomew and Co., Edinburgh, 1900.—Also Scot. Geog. Mag., July and August 1900. 588 SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE. the hinterland. The plain extends from the shore of the North Sea and Baltic southwards to the base of the Weserberg, Harz, Erzgebirge, Iser- gebirge, and other hills which form the northern fringe of the South German plateau. The plain as a whole is a uniform area of rolling land of no great elevation, yet Graebner's map shows that the " Heidegebiete " is definitely concentrated into certain portions of the plain. The chief mass lies in Hanover, Oldenburg, and Schleswig-Holstein, and extends from the Zuider See pastures eastward; the southern edge includes the upper part of the Vecht, passing along the base of the Weserberg to the cities of Hanover and Brunswick, whence the eastern boundary passes almost directly north to Lubeck and Kiel Bay. Along the Baltic there is a narrow coast-zone to Dantzic Bay and the mouth of the Memel. An isolated but well-defined area lies in Lausitz on the north-east frontier of Saxony, partly in Brandenburg and partly in Silesia. Another outlier, with a less marked " Heide " character, lies in Mecklenburg in the Elde valley, between Schwerin and the River Elbe. The "Heide" area thus indicated is the source of most of the examples quoted by Graebner, but his general conclusions and the questions raised by them may equally well be discussed from examples nearer home. Our material is provided by the papers and maps already published by E. Smith, his notes for future work, and other information collected by us. At present we are not in a position to discuss the heath vegetation of southern moors, such as Exmoor and Dartmoor, because these have not been worked over (to our knowledge) in the light of recent developments. The moorlands of Scotland and the north of England, up to 2000 feet, may be conveniently described as dark or black moors and green moors. The former is dark, partly from the soil which is more or less peaty, and partly from the sombre aspect of the vegetation, which con- sists of heather (Calluna), heaths (Erica), and other associates of the heather vegetation. The green moors and hills have a vegetation chiefly composed of grasses. The distinction is convenient, but it is also indicative of differences in soil and other external factors which influence the growth of plants; thus heather-moor, grass-moor, and forest are three primary types of vegetation considered from a biological stand- point. The term " Heide," used by Graebner, refers to the heather vegetation, and he defines it thus :—" An area covered by a dwarf, woody vegetation, where trees are not a conspicuous element, and where con- tinuous swards of grass are absent." The word " Heide " is here given Downloaded by [University of Ulster Library] at 03:58 04 January 2015 a scope somewhat more comprehensive than most writers allow; it corresponds to our dark moor or heather moorland in its widest sense. Such a moorland is recognised not by the occurrence of any one plant— although heather, bell-heaths, or cotton-grass (Eriophorum) are generally present—but by the nature of the whole association of plants. Lists of species are unnecessary for our present purpose; they are given in the text accompanying the published maps of the Scottish Botanical Survey, and Graebner (pp. 35-58) gives lists of species which inhabit his " Heide- gebiete," and which occur off it respectively. The heather moorland, although a well-marked type of. vegetation, includes a number of sub- types indicative of some change in the environment—for instance, wet, THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF HEATHER MOORLAND. 589 moist, and dry places differ in their species and in the relative frequency of the species found on them. In the maps of the Scottish Survey two subdivisions of heather vegetation are shown by distinctive colours: the drier moors with a moderate depth of peat, and heather (Callund) as the most abundant species, are distinguished from the wet bog of deep peat where heather is largely replaced by cotton-grass or bell-heath. Heath plants also find a subordinate place in the mixture of grasses and heather recorded on the maps; here the heather has been more or less suppressed by grazing or other causes, while Nardus, Aim, and other grasses have been favoured; the result is a vegetation with a strong admixture of heath plants, yet presenting a transition to the pure grassy type; these we distinguish as grass-heaths. The presence of heath-plants in some of the forest associations affords an example of transition from pure heath or moor to the forest type. Graebner's work thus falls naturally into two parts. The first deals with heather vegetation generally, the conditions of its existence, its relation to climate, and its development. The second part is more botanical, and deals with the subdivisions of the heather formation. In the present paper we shall consider principally the general part of Graebner's work, because his observations and suggestions, while valuable to' the botanist, are no less instructive to the geographer and meteorologist.