Bd. IV: 12) 



THE VEGETATION IN SOUTH GEORGIA. 



II 



Cladonia rangiferina L. 



squamosa (SCOP.) HOFFM. 

 silvatica (L.) HOFFM. 

 » subsquamosa (Nyl.) Wain. 



Ochrolechia antarctica Müll.-Arg. 

 parella (L.) MASS. 

 > tartarea (L.) ACH. 



Pertusaria lactea Nyl. 

 Placodium dimorphum (MÜLL.-ARG.) 

 Darbish. 

 millegranum(MÜLL.- Arg.) 



Darbish. 

 elegans (Lk.) Nyl. 

 lucens Nyl. 

 miniatum HOFFM. 

 » murorum (HOFFM.) De. 



Lecanora epibryon (Wulf.) Schaer. 

 Skottsbergii DARBISH. 



Aspicilia pullata DARBISH. 

 Parmelia enteromorpha BlTT. 

 Cetraria islandica (L.) Ach. 

 Neuropogon melaxanthum ACH. 

 Physcia caesia (HOFFM.) Nyl. 

 Buellia argillacea MüLL.-Arg. 



» austrogeorgica MüLL.-Arg. 



» rnelanotricliia DARBISH. 



» stellulata MüLL.-Arg. 



» subconcava MÜLL.-ARG. 

 Psoroma hypnorum (Wbg) Nyl. 

 Sticta endochrysea Del. 



» Freycinetii DEL. 

 Peltigera rufescens (Neck.) HOFFM. 

 Leptogium Menziesii Nyl. 



tremelloides ACH. 

 Verrucaria exquisita DARBISH. 

 Mastodia tessellata Hk. fil. et Harv. 



= 58 species. 



V. Origin of the flora. 



When discussing the composition and probable origin of the flora we must first of 

 all take into consideration, that the land has been much more glaciated than now, 

 and that during the first of the two glacial epochs South Georgia was more or less 

 completely ice-covered. Cumberland Bay was filled with enormous glaciers ending 

 outside it in a barrier, the position of which may be indicated by the coastal bank 

 rising 130 m. above the channel of the fjord (see the reports of J. G. ANDERSSON). 

 The conditions for plant life must have been at least as unfavourable as they are 

 now in the Antarctic regions proper. The ice left some nunataks free, where a 

 sparse tundra may have lived. Smaller islands near the coast may have been 

 free of ice and were then covered by a moss- and lichen-tundra. The stones were, 

 as now, encrusted with lichens. In my paper on the vascular plants I made the 

 suggestion, that there were no higher plants during the first glaciation — we need 

 not presume their existance, for there are no old, endemic types as in Kerguelen, 

 and we can imagine the vascular flora to be of late, inter- and postglacial origin. 

 As we cannot assume any land-connexions between South Georgia and other lands 

 in post-tertiary time, there only remains the conclusion that seeds of the few higher 

 plants have been transported over the great distance separating Tierra del Fuego 



