Vol. X, pp. 103-107 June 15, 1896 



PROCEEDINGS 

 BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTtONL 



THE EARLIEST RECORD OF ARCTIC PLANTS. 

 BY THEO. HOLM. 



Through the courtesy of Dr. P^dw. L. Greene my attention has 

 been called to the fact that our knowledge of the Arctic flora is 

 not of recent date. The invaluable botanical library which Dr. 

 Greene has accumulated, and which is now located in the Catholic 

 University in Washington, D. C, contains a vast number of old 

 books, which are truly a great boon to the working botanist. It 

 was in this library that Dr. Greene showed me a short chapter 

 in Ray's Historia Plantarum,* wherein is enumerated and de- 

 scribed some plants collected in Spitzbergen more than two hun- 

 dred years ago. 



The chapter referred to is headed " P]anta3 Spitzbergenses a 

 Frederico Martens Hamburgensi in itinerario suo observata3 de- 

 lineatfe et descriptaj." When I examined the names '^Aloefolia 

 florum capitulis rotimdis,^^ etc., and the accompanying descriptions, 

 which latter might just as well have represented almost any plant 

 outside the Arctic, I felt discouraged. The title of the chajjter, 

 however, gave the clue — /. e., the original record by Martens, who 

 was said to have not only described these plants, but even to 

 have figured them. 



This is the work which Ray mentions in a letter to Dr. Hans 

 Sloane,t where he expresses his great admiration of the careful 

 observations made by Martens. Martens' own account appeared 



* John Ray, vol. Ill, London, 1704, p. 226, Appendix, 

 t Correspondence of John Ray, edited by Edwin Lankef'ter, London, 

 1848, p. 474. 



17— Hioi,. Soc. Wash., Vol. X, ISDG (103) 



