292 



TYGE W. BOCHER 



It is probable that a large number of south-facing slopes, during a very 

 long period of time and also during the last glaciation, have served as bases 

 for migration. We know such coastal areas today (e.g. the Blosseville Coast) 

 which are composed of half-nunataks separated by big glaciers reaching the 

 sea, and we find in such places many southern species of the montane North 



Ranunculus glacialis 

 O Pedicularis hirsuta 



Fig. 4. On the left: areas in middle West Greenland with mountains more than 

 900 m high and the distribution of Anemone richardsoni (dots). Only the areas 

 occupied by this species have sharp peaks or ridges. On the right: eastern limit 

 of smoothed mountain form and the southernmost stations in east Greenland for 

 Ranunculus glacialis and Pedicularis hirsuta. (From Bocher, 1956, 1963.) 



Atlantic type. But half-nunataks which had suitable localities during the 

 Last Glaciation are probably found only where high mountains reach the sea. 

 There are large areas of this kind in east Greenland, including the Cape Far- 

 well area in the south. In southwest Greenland one small coastal high moun- 

 tain area is found at Arsuk and a large one between the two Isortoq fjords 

 (66° 30-67° 30'), the latter only interrupted by a rather small area south of 

 Holsteinsborg. Anemone richardsonii is confined to the coastal part of the latter 

 area in which the mountains are formed by local glaciers only (Fig. 4), and a 

 species like Athyrium aJpestre is restricted to the southeast coast (including 

 Cape Farwell) and the Arsuk area. These coincidences of plant occurrences 

 and alpine topography suggest survival but cannot be regarded as a definite 

 evidence for it (see Bocher, 1951, 1956, 1963, and Fig. 4). 



As a whole, Greenland has mostly been considered to have an Arctic flora. 

 This is a result of the definition of the Arctic range as the area north of the 

 timber-line. But, in the North Atlantic the timber-line depends also on oceanity 

 and the species which in other areas have limits at the timber-line do not 

 behave in this manner in the Atlantic area. From a plant geographical point 

 of view the timber-line is more a physiognomical division than a floristic 



