Part Of Sicily Research Articles

Vulpia sicula and the Genus Vulpia

Vulpia sicula Link, a rare perennial grass of the western Mediterranean region, is of vital significance in studies of the evolution and taxonomy of the genus Vulpia. The most recent herbarium specimens we have found either in Britain or abroad date from the 1880s and a field expedition to areas where the plant is native was made to obtain living plants or viable seed. In May/June 1972 we visited various parts of Sicily (the centre of its distribution) and located the plant in great abundance in the Bosco della Ficuzza at about 800 m on the northern slopes of Rocca Busambra, 30 km south of Palermo and sparsely on the lower slopes of La Pizzuta at about 750 m just west of Piana degli Albanesi, 15 km south of Palermo. It grows in permanent, rich, closed pastures in a habitat quite unlike that of any other Vulpia. Although other species of Vulpia (V. bromoides (L.) Gray, V. myuros (L.) C.C.Gmel., V. broteri Boiss. & Reut., V. ciliata Link and V. ligustica Link) occur in the vicinity they all occupy open or disturbed areas similar to their British habitats. We were unsuccessful in our searches for V. sicula in its recorded localities in the hills of Le Madonie, 60 km south-east of Palermo. All of the seven plants we collected have grown vigorously and flowered in a cool glasshouse at Manchester.

Flora Algale Dell'Isola Lachea (Golfo di Catania)

Abstract Observations on the seaweeds on the Island of Lachea. — Within the frame of the research on seaweeds in the Eastern part of Sicily which is being carried out at the Botanical Department of Catania University, the AA. have undertaken a study on the seaweeds to be found on the Island of Lachea. The material has been collected from the supralittoral to the infralittoral. One hundred and thirty-five species have been identified and data about the local distribution and habitat have been given. The following species are new to Sicily: Spatoglossum solierii (Chauv.) Kuetz., Bonnemaisonia asparagoides (Woodw.) Ag., Gelidiella ramellosa (Kuetz.) Feld. et Ham., Antithamnion cruciatum (C. Ag.) Naeg. var. profundum G. Feld., Antithamnion plumula var. bebbii (Reinsch) J. Feld., Ceramium bertholdi Funk, Ceramium codii (Richards) G. Maz., Spermothamnion repens (Dillw.) K. Ros. var. flagelliferum (De Not.) Feld., Griffithsia barbata (Smith) C. Ag., Polysiphonia biformis Zan., Lophocladia lallemandi (Mont.) Schm...

Peasants, Patrons, and Brokers in Western Sicily

Brigands and mafiosi provided crucial links between the nation-oriented absentee landlords and the communityoriented peasants in controlling the main resources of the inland nucleated settlements: land, labour, and votes. Mafia also served as the main avenue of social mobility for poor peasants willing to use physical violence in order to defend traditional positions of power both at the local and higher levels of Sicilian society. This dual function of mafia may account for the absence of enduring horizontal peasant coalitions as well as for the related large-scale emigration at the turn of the century. Without the covert support from formal authorities, mafia would not have been able to persist; mafia coincided largely with the formal political framework. Mafia should be viewed as a vast system of personal relationships (interlocking and cross-cutting friendships) whose ramifying threads connect various levels of socio-cultural integration, rather than as an appendix-like criminal association of Sicilian society. As a contribution to the symposium on social control and allocation of resources in Mediterranean communities, this article is concerned with the relationships between Sicilian peasants and their lords-the large estate-owners--over time. In the description of these relationships, special attention will be paid to banditry and mafia, as I hold that these phenomena may be considered as true mechanism of social control. The field work was carried out between April 1965 and April 1967 in the village of Genuardo (a pseudonym), situated in the southwest corner of the province of Palermo which was part of the inland latifundium region. I have not been able to observe the latifundium-system in action since, by the time I came to know this part of Sicily, land reform, emigration, and migrant labour had already changed the picture rather fundamentally. 1I am indebted to the Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research (Z.W.O.) for the grants which supported the field work.

X. On the Viola of the Ancients; by the Lord Viscount Mahon

I Shall attempt in this Paper to prove that the plant called Viola by the Romans, is not, according to the received opinion, our common Violet, but the flower called Iris, and well-known in our English gardens. This idea first occurred to me, when in the winter of 1825-1826 I travelled on horseback over the greater part of Sicily, and observed, that amongst the numerous wild flowers which that genial climate was already bringing forth at that season, there was no Violet to be seen, but, on the other hand, a great abundance of Iris; and I have since been informed that such is likewise the case in southern Italy. This seemed to me to render it improbable, that a plant so common should have been unnoticed by the ancient pastoral poets, and that their strains should be devoted to one apparently of foreign origin, of later introduction, and of less general growth.