192 A. i:.j'(.iisiLD. 



Iwo fl(n;il (listricts ol' Ihc Nordostl)Uj;t. 



'I'lir sti()ii_i,'ly markrd dilVt'i'cncc in W'ost Greonlaiid Ix'twccii tlit- 

 lloiiis nf llic coast-laiul and ol" llic lu'ad of Ihe fjords has becn touched 

 iijKMi l»y sovoral botanists, o. i,'. Hosenvinge (24), Porsild (19, 20), 

 Kruuse (9), Hartz (4) and othors. On the othcr hånd clinialological 

 data arc vcry scarco and from a typical fjord wc liaxf hul one set of 

 data c'itod by Hosenvinge (24, pj). 94 — 9o) from Godthaabsfjord whore 

 tlic inran t( iii|Miatiin' of Jnly in a distance of only 50 km. rises 1.2° C. 



In spiteof the incompleteness of the meteorologicai data^) Ironi the 

 Nordost Bnij:t they j)rovide two interesting pieces of informations: 



1) tlial gt'ni'rally speaking [\ic climate of Ihe Xurdosl Ungt iias a 

 more Continental character than that of Jacobshavn at the head 

 of the more open Disko Bugt; i. e. colder ^vinter and rather warmer 

 summers and, in addition, less fog and precipitation. 



2) that t liere is also a pronounced difference between the climate of 

 tlif niit(>r coastal area facing Iho oj)en Davis Strait, represented 

 by data fi'om Igdlorssuit at l'bekendt Ejland, and that of the 

 inner area rej)resented by Ikerasak near th(> inland ice. In the 

 latter area the mean of July may even rise 2° higher than at 

 Igdlorssuit. 



In llie following table I have tried to express in figures the influence 

 of climatic difTerences on the composition of the floras of the two areas. 

 Our incomj)lete knowledge creates a difliculty and I have therefore 

 chosen to select a few of the best known local floras within each area^). 

 The flora of the outer area is thus represented by: 1) the south coast 

 of Svartenhuk j)eninsula, 71''25', by 2) Igdlorssint 71 14'. by 3) the 

 trading place Nugssuaq, 70'^38', by 4) Hare 0, whilc tlir irun^r area is 

 represented by h llic south coast of Upernavik h^jlainl, 71''T0', by 

 2) Ikerasak and environs, circa 70°30', by 3) Naujat, 70°, at llic south 

 coast of the Xugssua(| pcninsula. 



It must here be mentioned that all IIk^ localities in the outer area 

 lic williiii Iho basalt region, whilc williin llic irincr area gneiss, sand- 

 stones as well as basalt are presenl. Tliis may well j)roduce some dis- 

 crej)ancy for example, as to the acidity of the soils, and 1 have no doubt 

 tliat. at least a few .species do not nrciir on basalt at all and vice versa. 

 •Still 1 do not tliink lltis will aftcd llic actiial niimbcrs to anv great 



') Se furlher p. 183. 



^) In ttiis list 7 species do not occur: Ihey arc all from stations on the boundarj^ 

 between the two areas. The species are: Poteniilla Egedii, Limosella aquatica and 

 PIfinloao horealis all soiithcrn types; Poa ahhreviata, Jinnunculus affinis and Tara.r- 

 acuni phymalocarpum, northcm types, and Carex holostoma, a widely distributed 

 type. Thus the total numbcr of species in the two areas should be 11)4. 



