n8 Alaskan Science Conference 



ditions of low temperatures, fruiting of plants within the short 

 span of an arctic growing season, after-ripening of seeds or their 

 ability to grow immediately after maturing, the water relations 

 of plants with their roots partially in contact with frozen ground 

 during the active season— all these and numerous others await 

 the attention of able plant physiologists. 



An increased interest in anatomical and morphological prob- 

 lems using Alaskan plants has been in evidence recently. A few 

 months ago a graduate student in an Oregon institution in- 

 quired about the feasibility of collecting anatomical and mor- 

 phological material during the summer months in Alaska, then 

 working up part of the fixed material during the ensuing col- 

 lege year and distributing the bulk of it to interested workers 

 in various parts of the world. A plant anatomist and mor- 

 phologist in India requested material of a critical genus known 

 to occur in Alaska in order that comparative studies might be 

 made in his laboratory. Other plant anatomists also might find 

 numerous intriguing problems and a wealth of material in the 

 Alaskan flora! 



Specialists in various groups of plants have visited Alaska to 

 collect material for their own use and for distribution to col- 

 leagues and research laboratories. Others have had fewer 

 opportunities to engage in the field exploration but have uti- 

 lized Alaskan material in their studies. Bryologists (8, 16, 17, 

 18), algologists, lichenologists, pteridologists, and specialists 

 interested in only one or two genera within various families of 

 plants have studied Alaskan material within the past decade or 

 two. Requests for specific items come to the Arctic Research 

 Laboratory frequently, indicating a continued and stimulating- 

 interest in plants of the Alaskan arctic and subarctic regions. 

 One person desired seeds of the more attractive wild flowers; 

 another wanted cytotaxonomic material of a group of sedges; 

 still another was curious about the chromosome numbers and 

 configurations in the anthers of the Alaskan Scrophulariaceae. 

 This list need not be prolonged, but the steady flow of requests 

 for material and information indicates an awakening conscious- 

 ness of the opportunities for intensely intriguing research on 

 Alaskan material. 



