176 ON PLANTS PRODUCING DOUBLE FLOWERS. 
narrow ledge of coast several hundred yards wide. The mountain rises 
ually, its sloping surface has a southern aspect, and it is kept conti- 
nually moist by water from the melting snow above. Immense glaciers 
guard it on either side, and it is covered by the eternal: snows above. 
Nevertheless, the sloping surface is covered with a verdant carpet of 
moss, through which rose in great beauty and abundance the following 
lants :—Ranunculus sulphureus, Saxifraga Hirculus (which is found as 
far south as Skane), S. rivularis, Cerastium alpinum, Pedicularis, Poly- 
gonum, Oxyria, Salix polaris, Dupontia Fischeri, Poa cenisia, Juncus 
etc. Here also on the gravel were flowering Sawifraga nivalis, S. fla- 
gellaris, 8. cespitosa, several Drabe, Cochlearia, Alsine rubella, Arena- 
ria Rosii, ete. . Indeed, the common Spitzbergen plants were flourish- 
ing here, and on the 1st of August were in flower, though the whole space 
was only some hundred square yards in extent, and was surrounded on 
all sides by ice and snow. 
The Spitzbergen Phanerogamia are all perennial, and have a ten- 
dency to grow in small tufts. It is well known that organic sub- 
stances decay very slowly in the Arctic regions. A wooden grave- 
cross, raised half a century ago, looks as though it were of yesterday ; 
and the dry remains of the previous year's growth of plants stand 
almost unchanged beside the new shoots of the perennial root. One 
may indeed almost say that stones and minerals decay more speedily 
in these regions than organic substances. But why are the plants all 
perennial? The reason is obvious. It entirely depends, so to speak, 
ou wind and weather whether a plant can produce ripe seed during 
the short summer. No doubt they generally do so, but if in any year 
they failed, plants having an annual root must, of necessity, be lost, 
while the continued existence of the species with perennial roots would 
be secured. 
ON PLANTS PRODUCING DOUBLE FLOWERS. 
By BznarHOLD Seemann, Pu.D., F.LS. 
Some years ago I stated in the ‘Gardeners’ Chronicle’ that while 
plants producing double flowers abounded in the northern hemi- 
sphere of our globe, not a single species was known from the southern, 
