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Stipa pennata and its companions in the flora of V iistergotland 163Fig. 2. The kame landscape of Vartofta-Asaka, SE Falbygden, contains a network of low eskers. The slope of Kungsasen,near Bjorstorp, facing east, carries a grazed dry meadow with junipers and many of Stipa's companions e.g. Dracocephalumruyschiana, Galium triand1·um, Potentilla rupestris, Prunella grandiflom, Pulmonaria angustifolia, Phleum phleoides, Polygalacomosa and also much Gymnadenia conopsea. The Stipa locality at Nas is close, and on a very similar site. May l, 1953.Photo R. Thollander. Cf. M. FRIES l958a, p. 47.LINNJEUS' Flora Svecica in the 1780's. He receivednotices on the more important of GYLLENHAAL'slocalities and a few valuable additions, includingAsperula tinctoria from Asaka, through GYLLEN­HAAL's brother, an entomologist, but no statementon Stipa. A mysterious note in AFZELIUS' manuscriptstates the occurrence of Stipa in Sma1and butshould be disregarded in the absence of the nameof informant and locality.In his Flora Svecica (pars posterior, 1826)W AHLENBERG mentioned Stipa pennata only in alist of adventitious, dubious or imperfectly knownplants. His judgement "post semisaeculum nonreperta" possibly reflects its absence in GYLLEN­HAAL's manuscript which still was the most importantsource of botanical information from Vastergotland.Asked by ELIAS FRIES, J. A. MATHESIUS investigatedthe flora at Asaka and in 1837 rediscoveredStipa on the small hills at Bondegarden(MATHESIUS 1854). Old people told MATHESIUS thatthe feathergrass had occurred in greater quantityin their youth and also in several more places (cf.FRIDEN 1948). The local people knew well thestately grass which was used as an ornament atfestivals. They had given the grass a name of itsown meaning field wool (E. FRIES 1839, p. 4). In1838 MATHESIUS (op. c.) found another Stipalocality at Bokullen in the parish of Valtorp about10 km north of Falkoping. Even though this placewas soon spoilt by cultivation Stipa was soon againfound not far from here, where N. S. LINNARSSONdiscovered it on the small hill of Varholmen inDala parish (HARTMAN 1870).The feathergrass was regarded as a remarkablerarity, and both Dala and Asa1m became destinationsof pilgrimages by plant collectors, mainlyschoolboys, who might have decimated the occurrencesa good deal. At the turn of the century onlya few miserable tufts remained.This was reported in an important paper byRuTGER SERNANDER (1908-09) who had visited theStipa localities in 1906. The history of detectionwas re-told in detail, and the plant communities ofthe Stipa hills were analysed. Sequences of peatand calcareous tufa in Vastergotland were investigatedto give data on the Post-glacial climaticchanges. The problem about the time when theStipa community might have been constituted wasdiscussed with the aid of a considerable literature.The necessity of protection of the localities wasstressed.In 1907 SERNANDER demonstrated the Varholmenlocality to an excursion from the Swedish Botanica 1.Acta Phytogeog.r. Suec. 50