THE FLORA 415 



" ' The plants of the slopes are in many respects the most 

 interesting. The majority of them occur as strongly 

 developed individuals, which here appear to thrive per- 

 fectly, and apparently can ripen their seeds annually. 

 This naturally is true of the good localities, namely, of the 

 slopes that soon become free from snow. Here one has an 

 opportunity of being able to observe the remarkable in- 

 fluence of the sun's rays. Slopes, that a short time before 

 were covered with snow, a few days later are adorned with 

 several flowers ; the development of these can proceed so 

 rapidly that one soon finds fruit as well, as in the case of 

 Draba. Here one sees sometimes quite blue mats of Pole- 

 monium pulchellum, or red ones of Saxifraga oppositifolia, 

 with a varied mixture of other tints, yellow, white, green. 

 . . . When the plants of the slopes occur in the plains, 

 they are not usually so well developed as on the slopes, but 

 the difference in this respect is much greater in some 

 plants than in others.' ; 



The plants growing on these slopes are for the most part 

 more flourishing individuals of the same species that are 

 found on the surrounding tundra. I myself noticed only 

 a few that seemed confined to these or similar situations : 

 Ranunculus pygmceus, R. hyperboreus, Linncea borealis, 

 Gentiana nivalis. Many others might probably yet be 

 discovered by careful attention to the influence of this 

 particular situation. 



Such aspects of the vegetable growths of Labrador as 

 have thus far been described may be considered as excep- 

 tional. The predominant form of vegetation on or near 

 the coast is that of the true tundra itself. Its appear- 

 ance as it occurs throughout Labrador I cannot better 

 describe than in words which I have already used : l 



1 Report of the Brown-Harvard Expedition to Labrador, Geo- 

 graphical Society, Philadelphia, 1902, pp. 129 ff., 168 ff. 



