74 A SUMMER IN GREENLAND 



rocks ejected from some old volcano in the imme- 

 diate neighbourhood. 



The peculiar construction of Lichens renders 

 them less dependent than other plants upon the 

 nature of the substratum on which they grow. 

 As films of dull black they dapple the grey sur- 

 faces of the gneiss, while other species produce a 

 harmony of orange, yellow, and grey. On stony 

 ground, among bosses of protruding rock and 

 mixed with prostrate or tufted shrubs of the heath 

 vegetation, large cushions of grey Lichens which 

 when dry crumble to the touch, the flat, deeply lobed 

 fronds of a bright yellow species, and the clumps 

 of erect branches of stouter forms, sometimes tipped 

 with small scarlet balls, give light and brightness 

 to the duller background. 



The Botany of Greenland is too wide a subject 

 for more than a passing reference in these pages; 

 it is intensely interesting to the botanist not only 

 because of the richness of the flora, but also 

 on account of its past history, the relation of 

 the vegetation of to-day to that which preceded the 

 Glacial period, and the routes by which the pioneers 

 of the present plant population arrived. 



A certain emotional influence is produced by the 

 heath-covered hill-sides and swampy lowlands, by 

 the scattered colonies of more brilliant flowers on 

 the drier rock-strewn regions of this treeless land 

 for the perception of which no knowledge of 

 natural science is needed, and even the layman's 

 sense of wonder is stirred when he considers what 

 this display signifies as a triumph of the forces of 

 life over adverse physical conditions. 



