APPENDIX V 



THE VEGETATION ABOUT BORUP LODGE 

 W. ELMER EKBLAW 



That such a relatively luxuriant vegetation as that 

 which is found about our headquarters in Northwest 

 Greenland can grow so near the Pole surprises and in- 

 terests most people who learn of the green patches of 

 dandelion, the smiling fields of golden poppies, and the 

 verdant slopes of lush blue-grass, flourishing almost a 

 thousand miles within the Arctic circle. That mush- 

 rooms as wide as dinner-plates and as delicious as our 

 meadow mushrooms; that ferns as dainty and as beau- 

 tiful as those of our mountain woods; that buttercups 

 as bright and glistening as those of our prairie stream- 

 banks; that bluebells and rhododendron and heather 

 and many others — all find in the continuous sunshine of 

 the Arctic summer sufficient heat and light not only to 

 grow, but to thrive, and to reproduce themselves, 

 amazes almost every one but the professional botanist. 



True, it is only in favorable spots that all these 

 plants grow, but, even so, there are few areas so rocky, 

 or so cold, or so wind-swept, that not any plants can 

 find a place for themselves. If nothing else grows, the 

 lichens, at least, are sure to cover the rocks. But almost 



