436 THE FLOWERING PLANTS OF NOVAYA ZEMLYA, ETC. 



Ranunculus afjinis. Saxifraga fiagellaris. 



R. nivalis. S. caspitosa. 



Papaver nudicaule. S. tricuspidata . 



Cochlearia fenestrata. S. nivalis. 



Braija alpina. Epilohiam latifolium. 



Draba alpina. Taraxacum officinale. 



D. hirta. Salix arctica. 



D. riipestris. Polygonum viviparum. 



Wahlenbergia apetala. Oxgria digyna. 



Arenaria rubella, Alopecurus alpinus, 



Cerastiwn alpinum,, and Poa abbreviata. 



var. caspitosum. Festuca ovi7ia. 



Dry as i7itegrifolia. Eriophorum angustifolium. 



Potentilla nivea. Juncus biglumis. 



Saxifraga oppositifolia. Carex nardina. 



S. cernua. C. fuliginosa. 



Of these all but three — Dryas integrifolia, Saxifraga tricuspidata, 

 and Salix arctica — occur in Spitsbergen, whilst only two are absent 

 from Novaya Zemlya, namely, Dryas integrifulia (and in both 

 countries the nearly allied Dryas octopetala takes its place), and 

 Saxifraga tricuspidata . 



If the lines of plant migration towards the Pole emanate entirely 

 from Europe, Asia, and America since the close of the glacial epoch, 

 it is a remarkable coincidence that as these routes converge around 

 the Pole from different sides of the hemisphere, the more charac- 

 teristic plants of those regions of the earth become eliminated, 

 and a nearly homogeneous flora is to be found on the lands nearest 

 to the northern apex of the globe. Does not this give some colour 

 to the hypothesis that a remnant of a palfearctic flora has been 

 spared, and is represented by this more or less identical flora 

 in the highest latitudes on different sides of the Pole ? It may 

 be urged, on the contrary, that the coincidence arises merely 

 from these plants being better able to withstand severe climatic 

 conditions. 



I am satisfied that a large number of the plants of Waigats and 

 Novaya Zemlya propagate from seed, so often did I meet with old 

 plants surrounded by groups, to my mind, of undoubted seedlings ; 

 this is notable with Cochlearia, Draba, Taraxacu)ii, Papaver, and a 

 number of other species. This does not, however, invalidate the 

 opinion that the flowering plants of Grinnell Land, some thirteen 

 degrees nearer the Pole than Waigats Island, are not reproduced by 

 seed, but that their extension is due to the creeping and spreading 

 powers of the individual plants. This view has been forcibly 

 advocated by Mr. H. C. Hart,"- and my own observations in the 

 same regions as he refers to lead me to embrace similar conclusions. 



(To be continued.) 

 * " Botany of British Polar Expedition," in Journ. Bot. 1880. 



