INSULAR FLORAS. 385 



For the latest account of the vegetation of the Faeroes, 

 we are indebted to two English ladies (23). Only three 

 of the islands were explored, namely : Stromoe, the largest, 

 which is twenty-seven miles in length and seven miles in 

 breadth ; Naalsoe and Osteroe. Rostrup (24) records 307 

 flowering plants from the islands, only five of which do not, 

 on his authority, occur in the Scandinavian peninsula, 

 namely : Alchemilla Jissa, Anagallis tenella, Myosotis re- 

 pens, Scilla verna and Carex Lyngbyei. Further, only ten 

 of them are not found in Britain, and these are almost 

 all strictly alpine in character. As in St. Kilda, trees are 

 entirely absent, and the shrubs of the dwarfest habit. Miss 

 Copland and her companion collected only about a third 

 of the plants, but their sketch of the general character and 

 aspects of the vegetation is most interesting. 



The flora of St. Kilda, the most westerly specks of land 

 in Great Britain, is still imperfectly known, though there is 

 an interesting recent contribution to the subject (25). St. 

 Kilda is not so familiar that I need apologise for giving a 

 few facts concerning the group ; for there are several islands. 

 They lie between fifty and sixty miles west of the Outer 

 Hebrides. The largest island, bearing the name given to 

 them collectively, is about three miles long by two broad, 

 and the highest point some 1220 feet above sea-level. So 

 far as the botany is concerned, no species has been found on 

 any of the smaller islands that does not occur on the main 

 island. There is not a native tree, and the shrubby vegeta- 

 tion is limited to such plants as Vaccinium Myrtillus, Erica 

 cinerea, Calluna vulgaris, Empctrum nigrum, and Salix 

 repens ; consequently, the number of species comprising the 

 flora is very small. Yet there is pasturage sufficient to sup- 

 port considerable flocks of sheep. It includes in its com- 

 position over a dozen kinds of grasses, common thyme in 

 abundance, and white clover. The total number of species 

 of vascular plants recorded is 1 20, several of which, how- 

 ever, are exceedingly rare, or only grow in the barley and 

 oat crops, thus bringing down the probably indigenous 

 species to about 100 ; a number that is equalled on an acre 

 of ground in the South of England. Genuine alpine plants 



