1898-1902. No. 16.J FLOW. PLANTS AND FERNS OF N.-W. GREENLAND. 4~> 



fiqnatillis var. stans, which will probably be found in N. W. Greenland 

 as its distribution in Danish Greenland points to an immigration from 

 the north. 



N. W. Greenland is reached by the following american species, all 

 spread in Ellesmereland : Taraxacum hyparcticum, Pedieidaris capi- 

 tata, P. ardica, Potentilla Vahliana, Hesperis Pallasii, Ranunculus 

 Sablnei and further by Arabis Hookcri which is not found in Ellesmere- 

 land. Erigeron compositus, Potentilla rubricaulis, Saxifraga tricus- 

 pidata, Lesquerella arctica reach to North-eastern Greenland, as also 

 Arabis arenosa which is found in Ellesmereland but not vet in N. W. 



j 



Greenland. Dryas integrifolia shows, so far as present researches have 

 gone, rather a curious distribution in East Greenland, one small area 

 north of latitude 65 and another larger one from about 70 to TS 1 ^ , 

 but it is not reported from the most northern known part of the coast. 

 As it is found so far north on the west coast as Lockwood Island, 

 there seems to be every possibility of its occurrence in the far north of 

 the east coast also, so as to account for its appearance in the south. 

 It may, perhaps, still be found to have a continuous area along the 

 east coast. 



The most difficult question, however, is that connected with another 

 group of plants in N. E. Greenland, the eastern species: Taraxacum 

 arcticum, Polemoniuin humile, Gentiana tenella, Dryas octopetala, 

 Saxifraga hieraciifolia, and Ranunculus glacialis, to which Saxifraga 

 Hirculus must most probably be added (as far as this territory is con- 

 cerned). They are all Spitsbergen plants, even though some of them 

 are very rare in that country. Moreover they are found in Northern 

 Europe, and some at least, are widely distributed in Northern Asia also. 

 Four are also Iceland plants. It cannot of course be doubted that this 

 group of species has reached Greenland from the east; but the great 

 question is how has such a migration been effected? For those in- 

 vestigators, who are inclined to credit the winds and marine currents 

 with the capacity of transporting living seeds over almost unlimited di- 

 stances, and of putting them safely in a convenient spot for germinating, 

 the question is easily enough put aside, as we have the great polar current 

 which flows in against the east coast of Greenland. In my opinion, 

 however, there are some further problems to be solved. 



Even if we take for granted, that the seeds of these plants possess 

 the required resistance to the influence of salt water, and that they can 

 stand an ice-journey of several years, and afterwards find their way to 

 convenient growingplaces in a new land, why are they entirely restric- 



