PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 305 



which are snowless during summer. On these wind-blown rock- 

 summits the plants generally encounter very unfavourable conditions, 

 therefore many of the summits are quite bare of vegetation; on others 

 a few lichen-crusts are seen on stones, or small Grimmia : cushions 

 in clefts ; and again on others a few scattered phanerogams are found. 

 So far as is known, there are almost no notes regarding the plants 

 on the mountain summits of Iceland, as the latter are rarely ascended 

 by botanists, but geologists, on the other hand, are obliged to 

 climb the mountains. I shall therefore take the opportunity here 

 of inserting some fragmentary notes from my diary regarding the 

 plants I found on the mountain-summits, with the heights measured. 

 These notes were not intended for publication; I had put them down 

 in my diary for my own information, but although they are frag- 

 mentary, they may be useful in showing that there is nothing spe- 

 cially characteristic in the vegetation of the mountain-summits. On 

 the north-western peninsula: Kikafell near Brjamslaekur (560 me- 

 tres), Grimmias, Salix herbacea, S. phy lid folia, Arabis petra>a, Arme- 

 ria maritima, Ranunculus glacialis, Silene acaulis, all in flower July 

 22, 1886. Vattarfjall (401 metres), Papaver midicaule, Silene acaulis, 

 Armeria maritima. Ba3Jarfell near Steingrimsfjord (316 metres), 

 Silene acaulis, Armeria maritima, Cerastium alpinum, Polygonum vivi- 

 parum, Empetrum nigrum, Saxifraga ccespitosa. Drangahals (315 

 metres), Salix herbacea, Polygonum viviparum, Oxyria digyna, Rho- 

 diola rosea. Dalsheidi near Snaefjallastrond (660 metres), mosses, 

 Silene acaulis, Salix herbacea, Gnaphalium supinum, Sibbaldia pro- 

 cumbens. Klofningsheidi (606 metres), Grimmias, Salix herbacea, 

 Ranunculus glacialis, R. pygmwus. Uxaskard near Latrar (Eyjafjord) 

 (518 metres), Oxyria digyna, Salix herbacea, Armeria maritima, Ra- 

 nunculus glacialis. Hafursey near Myrdalsjokull (587 metres), Grim- 

 mias, Salix herbacea, Silene acaulis, Polygonum viviparum. Lod- 

 mundur (1097 metres), NE. of Hekla, Grimmias, lichens, Salix 

 herbacea, Silene acaulis, Cerastium alpinum, Saxifraga c&spitosa, Ca- 

 rex rigida. Skalafell near 01fus (578 metres), Salix herbacea, Cassiope 

 hypnoides, Armeria maritima. Arabis petrwa. On the plateau towards 

 the west: Thristapafell near Eiriksjokull (714 metres), Salix glauca, 

 Armeria maritima, Cerastium alpinum, Silene acaulis, Salix herbacea. 

 Strutur (921 metres), on the summit no plants, but 130 metres 

 further downwards, Arabis alpina, A. petrcea, Saxifraga hirculus, S. 

 hypnoides, S. oppositifolia, Pedicularis flammea. Botnssulur (1108 

 metres), only some lichens and Grimmias and Salix herbacea and 



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