Abstract
THE Phytogeographical Committee of the Swiss Society of Natural Sciences has planned, and Dr. Emil Schmid prepared, a vagetation map of Switzerland to a scale of 1: 200,000 or about three miles to the inch. The map is issued in four folded sheets of which two, Nos. 1 and 4 of the series, have so far been received. No. 1 covers the north-west sector including Bern, Neuchâtel, Basel and Aarau, and No. 4 the south-east sector or the Gotthard–Tessin–Graubunden area. Eleven primary types of vegetation are recognized. These are shown in different colours, with the chief associations in each type differentiated by symbols indicating the dominant species ; the extents of arable cultivation and grassland within each primary vegetation type are also indicated. The associations shown are for the most part forest types, the twenty-two symbols representing dominants all referring to trees and shrubs. The maps are thus particularly valuable as showing at a glance the types and detailed distributions of woodlands and their relation to topographical features and geographical location. The utility of these finely printed maps to botanical visitors will be considerable, though place-names are not easy to decipher beneath the superimposed colours and symbols. The legends and keys are given in French and German, and each map measures 37 in. by 26½ in. They are printed on stiff paper by Kummerly and Frey of Bern and are obtainable from Hans Huber of Bern at a cost of 12 Swies francs each.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Vegetation Maps of Switzerland. Nature 164, 690–691 (1949). https://doi.org/10.1038/164690d0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/164690d0