276 EuG, Warming. 



Of the botanists who have given the fullest information 

 with respect to the natural conditions prevailing in the 

 habitats in Greenland, I must, as regards the Caryophyllaceæ, 

 point out most particularly Jens Vahl (in the Arctic Her- 

 barium belonging to the University of Copenhagen) and 

 Chr. Kruuse (in his papers on the plant-growth on the 

 east coast of Greenland in "Meddelelser om Grönland" 

 Vols. 30 and 49). To mention the numerous data to hand, 

 would take us too far; here it must suffice to refer to the 

 Floras and especially to Joh. Lange's "Conspectus"; I there- 

 fore give the following short resumé. 



With regard to the climate of the habitat, we know, 

 in a general way, for instance, that it becomes drier the 

 farther we proceed from the south up towards the north 

 in Greenland, and from the coast towards the interior. 

 See for instance the small map (after W. Krebs) reproduced 

 in Gunnar Anderson (1900). But the rainfall is hardly of 

 as much importance as is the water accessible to the plants 

 ecpecially from the ground and the fogs. 



The soil is usually rather damp. One hardly goes too 

 far if one asserts that a great moisture of the soil is an essen- 

 tial characteristic of Arctic nature. This is evident from 

 the many descriptions, for instance in Vahl ("in locis humi- 

 dis", "in locis humidiuscuhs", "in locis turfosis", "in locis 

 uliginosis", "in pratis", etc.), or the frequent occurrence, in 

 Kruuse, Porsild, Lundager, and others, of expressions 

 such as "on moist, barren ground", "on wet sand", "by 

 preference in humid places", "near lakes or running water", 

 "on sheltered, humid slope", "on moist rocky flats", "low- 

 lying humid soil", "on damp, manured places", etc. Joh. 

 Lange has, as a rule, given tolerably clear information in 

 his "Conspectus" about the nature of the soil, and his state- 

 ments are presumably based upon Jens Vahl's labels. 



