1915] 



WILLE — FLORA OF NORWAY . 97 



is found there right down to the level of the sea, and is very 

 common on the limestone of the locality. Together with J. 

 Holmboe ('03), I have endeavored to prove that over the 

 whole of the area in which Dry as appears, the latter can 

 scarcely have existed for more than 100 years. I cannot 

 ascribe any convincing power to the objections that have been 

 raised against this line of argument. 



THE FAGUS SYLVATICA PERIOD 



In Norway, as already mentioned, Fagus sylvatica grows 

 upon the southeast coast, with Larvik as a center. There is, 

 in addition, an isolated beech-wood in Seim, to the north of 

 Bergen, 280 miles from the nearest occurrence of beech. 



It was formerly believed by A. Blytt that this beech-wood 

 in Seim was a relic of a connected distribution of beech along 

 the coast ; but no discovery of fossils favors this idea. On the 

 contrary, these two occurrences of beech appear to be per- 

 fectly independent of one another. 



J. Holmboe ('05, '09) has endeavored to find out when the 

 beech appeared at Larvik and in Seim. He has come to the 

 conclusion, judging from what has been found in the peat- 

 bogs, that at Larvik the beech immigrated considerably later 

 than Picea excelsa. It can thus actually be assumed to have 

 immigrated in the Iron Age, or perhaps as late as the time of 

 the Vikings. This late immigration is in harmony with the 

 fact that in the southeast of Norway the beech is making very 

 rapid advance at the present time. Holmboe says that the 

 beech-wood in Seim, from a geological point of view, is very 

 recent, but that in any case its age should scarcely be put lower 

 than about 1,000 years. 



It seems to me most probable that the beech was introduced 

 into Norway by man in the time of the Vikings, when there 

 was ample communication with those countries in which this 

 so generally useful tree formed extensive forests. In Seim, 

 near Bergen, where the beech grows, the Norwegian King 

 Haakon the Good, who was educated in England at the court 

 of King Athelstan, and reigned from 935 to 961, had one of 

 his estates; and it is not unnatural to suppose that he may 



