I.-THE PROBLEMS OF ANTARCTIC PLANT LIFE. 1 



By R. N. RUDMOSE BROWN, D.Sc., University of Sheffield. 

 (With a Chart.) 



THE general belief held until quite recent years that the Antarctic regions were almost 

 destitute of botanical interest and the last place on the earth's surface where plants 

 could be looked for, was amply justified until the closing years of last century. Our 

 botanical knowledge of these regions up to that time was so scanty that almost the only 

 collections known were the few mosses from Cockburn Island, Graham Land, found by 

 Joseph Hooker in Ross's expedition in the Erebus and Terror in 1839-43. 



The recent renewed interest in the Antarctic, as expressed in the expeditions of 

 the last decade, by various collections and observations, has shown that the south 

 polar flora, poor as it may be, is nevertheless in some respects richer than was supposed, 

 and gives the botanist reason to hope for further results from future expeditions. One 

 of the chief interests in these collections lies, of course, in the questions they give rise 

 to in the problems of geographical distribution, and the origin of the Antarctic flora. 



It is much to be hoped that future expeditions will make further discoveries in 

 palseobotany. With the exception of a somewhat doubtful fossil of coniferous wood, 

 that may be ascribed to Lower Carboniferous or Devonian times, found in Victoria Land, 

 the only fossil plants we know from Antarctica are the abundant remains brought 



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back by Dr Otto Nordenskjold from Hope Bay in north-east Graham Land. This flora 

 of ferns, cycads, and conifers indicates a warm, moist climate and abundant vegetation in 

 Jurassic times. The fossil Araucaria, Fagus, and other plants found at Seymour Island 

 by the same expedition, indicate an extension of these conditions into Tertiary times. 



The adaptations of the various species to their environments, a study particularly 

 important in the case of cosmopolitan species, promises most valuable results, but is 

 more likely to be undertaken seriously when the systematic and geographical interests 

 of the flora have been more fully worked out. For a newer study almost invariably 

 has to wait until the older aspects of the science have been satisfied. It is, moreover, 

 extremely desirable that such physiological and morphological questions should be 

 studied on the spot ; indeed, the impracticability of satisfactory investigation in any 

 other circumstances is most obvious. Dr Fritsch in his remarks on yellow and red 

 snow (pp. 99-120 of this volume) speaks of the absolute necessity of investigating these 



1 Certain parts of this article appeared in a less extended form in a previous paper by the same author, " Antarctic 

 Botany : its Present State and Future Problems," Scot. Geog. Mug., 1906, pp. 473-483. 



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