432 THE FLOWERING PLANTS OF NOVAYA ZEMLYA, ETC. 



our arctic explorers in several localities amongst the American 

 Arctic Archipelago, notably by Dr. Walker, at Bellot Straits ; by 

 Dr. Lyall, at Powell Creek; and by Admiral Markham, at Fmy 

 Beach. It is apparently a common plant on the western side of 

 Davis Strait, for Mr. James Taylor remarks (Trans. Bot. Soc. 

 Edinb. vii. p. 333) that it grows from the coast-line to 200 ft. in 

 pools of water, on any kind of soil. It is perhaps the finest of 

 arctic grasses ; its leaves float on the sm-face, the culm rising from 

 nine inches to one foot above the water, bearing its beautiful purple 

 florets. Found at Cumberland Gulf, Cape Searle, Scott's Bay, 

 Cape Adair. Prof. Nathorst discovered it at Cape York, in North 

 Greenland. It appears to be absent from Grinnell Land, for Mr. 

 H. C. Hart failed to find it around Discovery Bay, or on the opposite 

 Greenland shore of Smith Sound in 1875-76 ; and I was equally 

 unsuccessful in finding any trace of it in Grinnell Land, between the 

 eighty-second and eighty-third degrees ; whilst the members of the 

 Greely Expedition were not more fortunate. Turning to the eastern 

 hemisphere, it was first recorded by Von Baer from Novaya Zemlya, 

 1837, and subsequently by various other botanists from that group. 

 The botanists of the Vega Expedition found it in Actinia Bay, Taimur 

 Island, off the coast of Siberia ; and Mr. H. Fisher has recently 

 discovered it in the Franz Josex^h Land group, but only at 

 one spot, a small pond on Mabel Island. I found it growing 

 abundantly in pools of water and damp situations on the western 

 shores of Beluga Bay of South Goose Laud, at Pomorsky Bay, abun- 

 dantly at Silver Bay, at Gubina Bay, at many places on both sides 

 of the Matyushin Shar, all around Beluga Bay of Lutke Land, 

 where it grows from the shore-line to a height of 750 ft., and I met 

 with it, but in a somewhat stunted form, at Ziwolka Fiord, 74° 25' 

 N. P. Sahinii is distinctly a water-growing grass ; its long roots 

 are firmly attached in the soil or mud, the leaves float on the water, 

 and, as Mr. Taylor remarks, its purple inflorescence makes it quite 

 conspicuous ; it is certainly the most beautiful of all the arctic 

 grasses. It seems somewhat singular that such a common and 

 generally dispersed plant over Novaya Zemlya and Lutke Land 

 should have attracted so little attention. Can it be that the 

 exceptionally fine summer of 1897 caused it to bloom more freely 

 than usual ? The tallest plants I gathered were from Pomorsky 

 Bay, and are over a foot in length. Pleiiropogon Sahinii is one of 

 about half a dozen species not found outside the Arctic Circle. It 

 was formerly held to be the only genus confined to arctic limits, but 

 three others of the genus have since been found in America. 



157. KoELERiA cRisTATA Gaud. Capc Greben and Cape Matiu- 

 sela, Waigats. 



158. Glyceria Vahliana Fries. Only appears in my collection 

 from Beluga Bay and Lutke Land, at an elevation of 100 ft. 



159. ARCTOPmLA FULVA Nym. This is the tallest and most 

 striking grass of the regions visited. On Dolgoi Island very abun- 

 dant in meres and ponds, standing two and three feet above water, 

 affording shelter for broods of ducklings, and phalaropes and water, 



