l'J 



Nr. ;{. i;. H. ()sTKM-i:i,u; 



Tilis i|iu'sti()n nuisl. I tliinl<, l»c' answered in tlie aflir- 

 iiKitivo, aiul tilis 1 cliielly hase oii tlu* lind of "liiglicr 

 jilaiils" in lin- present "nunatak"' areas. Therc is cvery 

 j)i()l)al)ilil\ llial even (iuiiiig llic maxiinuni exlension ol" 

 Ihe inland ice there were "nunatak's: rocky walls, ledges 

 etc. IVee ol" ice, and wliere tlieir situation was favourable, 

 they were undonbtedly ahle to harbour a very hardy 

 vegetation. Particularly convincing, it seems to nie, in tliis 

 respect is the occurrence of 8 species in a small "nunatak" 

 area near the north coast, in ahout 81° N. Lat. wliicli 

 locality was passed by the Second Thule Expcdition in 

 1910 and called by them the "Midgaardsorm" (i. e. The 

 Midgård Siiake). The conditions prevailing witliin this 

 small area are properly speaking those of the glacial period, 

 but in spite of this a few hardy species have been able to 

 live there. They belong lo the species which I call liigh- 

 arctic (3 species) and arctic " (5 species). From three other 

 "nunatak"s piants were collected in 1878 by A. Kornehip 

 and J. A. I). Jensen, the latter luinataks being situated at 

 some distance from the margin of the inland ice, in 

 southern West-Greenland (near 63° N. Lat.)^ thus under 

 much milder conditions, but at a height of between 1000 

 and 2000 metres. On each "nunatak" there were 26 — 27 

 species, naturally in part the same; however the total 

 number of species was 54, of which 40 are arctic, 3 liigh- 

 arctic and 11 subarctic and boreal'. 



' "Nunatak" is a Greenlandish word wliicli nu-ans a clifT or mountain 

 surrounded by and emerging from tlic inland ice, and not ice-covcred itsclf. 



" For tiic definition of these terms see later j). 24. 



^ See tiie map (ig. 1 . 



■* In percentages: 5,G p. c. iiigii-arctic. 74 |). c. aretic and '2(1,4 pc. 

 subarctic — boreal, while the wiiole flora of tiie district in question (NV li> 

 lias 1 p. c. higii-arctic, 39 p. c. arctic and (10 p.c. subarctic — boreal, — 

 tluis a mucli less pronoiinccd arcfic cliaracter. 



