HIGHLIGHTS OF BOTANICAL EXPLORATION IN THE NEW WORLD 215 



Utilization. His contribution to the broader aspect of vegetation study in 

 Canada has been very great. 



H. G. Simmons, late professor at the University of Uppsala, was a member 

 of the Sverdrup's Second Norwegian Expedition to the American Arctic 

 Archipelago. He spent four years on Ellesmere Island, where he obtained 

 extensive materials of vascular plants, mosses, and lichens. Simmons made 

 the most significant contribution to the knowledge of the distribution of 

 American arctic plants since the work of Hooker in his Vascular Plants in the 

 Flora of Ellesmere Land and A Survey of the Phytogeography of the Arctic 

 American Archipelago. 



M. L. Fernald, in a long series of expeditions, 1904-1926, visited many 

 times the maritime provinces of eastern Canada, Gaspe, Nova Scotia, and 

 Newfoundland. His most frequent companion was K. M. Wiegand, with 

 whom he collaborated in numerous taxonomic studies. A coterie of friends 

 and assistants at various times accompanied him, prominent among them 

 Ludlow Griscom, John M. Fogg, Harold St. John, Bayard Long, and A. S. 

 Pease. Fernald's boreal field activity extended botanical investigation to new 

 areas. His contribution to phytogeography was considerable, and perhaps 

 no single paper has more stimulated contemporary thought and inquiry on 

 the subject than Fernald's "Persistence of Plants in Unglaciated Areas of 

 Boreal America." 



Encouraged by the work of Fernald, Frere Marie-Victorin began a series 

 of botanical surveys in Quebec centering about the Gulf and estuary of the 

 St. Lawrence, the St. John River, and the Ottawa Valley. Work in the field 

 formed the basis of his Flore Laurentienne. His influence has been largely 

 responsible for the present upsurge in botanical activity in the province of 

 Quebec, which has been carried on by many of his students. In Porsild's opin- 

 ion, the appearance of the Flore Laurentienne represents a turning point in 

 the history of Canadian botany. 



In the vast reaches of Canada there still remain great areas in the less 

 populated arctic and interior regions in which there is opportunity for original 

 exploration. Many field men are now actively at work in these regions. 



H. R. Senn and his cohorts at the Department of Agriculture in Ottawa 

 have opened up an extensive program of exploration, chiefly that of J. A. 

 Calder and W. J. Cody in the Arctic Archipelago and the Franklin District, 

 N.W.T. 



Homer J. Scroggan of the National Museum has prepared his Flora of 

 Manitoba, which is based on extensive field work carried out during the 

 years 1948-1953. He is at present gathering material for a flora of mari- 

 time eastern Canada. Professor Soper is conducting extensive floristic studies 

 in southern Ontario. T. M. C. Taylor and R. C. Hosie have carried on 

 intensive botanical exploration along the north shore of Lake Superior. 

 E. C. Smith and A. E. Rolland have made major contributions in their in- 



