1898-1902. No. 2.] VASCULAR PLANTS OF ELLESMERELAND. 11 



nearly — and nearest — allied to that of those other islands (except 

 the southern). 



But still the opinion of Hooker holds true if it is only altered in 

 so far as the comparison is not made with the flora of Greenland as 

 a whole, but with that of the northern parts and especially of the region 

 which lies nearest to Ellesmereland — north-western Greenland. It 

 would lead too far here to go into the question of the history of the 

 Greenland flora which has been made the subject of quite a hterature, 

 it may suffice to accentuate the fact, that the Greenland flora is no 

 unity, there are great differences in the communities of species belonging 

 to the different parts, which clearly show that an immigration from 

 different quarters must have taken place in post-glacial times, and the 

 region north of Melville Bay especially, has a number of american 

 immigrants large enough to show that here the influence of the near 

 neighbourhood to the american flora has been considerable, i. e. the 

 invasion of american species — from Ellesmereland — has put a con- 

 spicuous mark upon the flora of that region. 



But before this fact can be clearly shown, it is necessary to make 

 a division of the Ellesmereland flora and thereby show its truly american 

 character, and first of all, the distribution of the species within the area 

 itself must be examined. Of the 115 Ellesmereland species 58 (50 %) 

 are spread all over the land (the little-explored w^estern coast is here 

 left out of consideration), and of these again 50 are circumpolar species 

 spread in most parts of the Arctic Regions or besides also to the 

 south. Of the 8 others, most are w^estern species with their principal 

 area in America— Greenland; 13 species are found only in the southern 

 coast, 13 more there and in the Hayes Sound region of the east coast; 

 10 in the latter region alone, 3 there and to the north, 6 are found in 

 the northern parts alone. To the first group, the species spread in all 

 parts of the land, probably also the now first distinguished Draha sub- 

 capitata belongs. Of special interest is a group of 11 species found 

 both in the northern as well in the southern, especially the south-western 

 part of the land, but not in the Hayes Sound territory. Some of them 

 are rather common in the regions where they are found, and their ab- 

 sence from the middle part of the eastern coast, where the natural 

 conditions would doubtless be quite favorable to them, can hardly be 

 accounted for in any other way than that they have immigrated from 

 the south-west, where they are spread (except for the new species 

 Taraxacum pumilum?), and that they have in their wandering along 

 the coast not yet reached Hayes Sound. The conditions for spreading 



