ir. 



SUMMARY OF THE BOTANICAL WORK OF THE 

 EXPEDITION, AND ITS RESULTS.* 



BY HERMAN G. SIMMONS. 



CAPTAIN SVERDRUP having asked me to write a short account of the 

 botanical results of the expedition, I have compiled the following, 

 which is in the main a resume of an account already published in 

 English in Nyt Magaxinfor Naturvidenska'berne. 



With the exception of some plankton-fishing on the voyage up to 

 Greenland, the botanical work began with some excursions ashore in the 

 Danish colonies. It is hardly necessary to point out, however, that no 

 ' find- of great interest was likely to be made in a visit of a few days' 

 or hours' duration, these tracts having been far too thoroughly worked 

 over to give any result worth mentioning in so short a time. 



Before arriving at our real field of labour, that is to say, Ellesmere 

 Land, we visited, on August 1C, 1898, Foulke Fjord, in North-west 

 Greenland (78 18' N.), and another short visit was made there the 

 following year at about the same time. This tract had already been 

 visited by Kane's, Hayes's, Hall's, and Nares's expeditions, and in parti- 

 cular, the botanist of the latter expedition, Hart, brought back with 

 him a tolerably large botanical collection. Besides finding at least thirty- 

 five of the forty-four phanerogams which make up Hart's list, and 

 possibly also a few more, which, however, in such a case, I classify 

 differently, I am able to augment the list of the Foulke Fjord higher 

 plants with thirty-three species, among which the following are new for 

 the whole of North-west Greenland : Arabis Hooker i, Eiitrcma Edivardsii, 

 Ranunculus affinis, Carex gtareosa, C. incur va, Woodsia ylaldla, Equisetum 

 arve/ise, and probably a few more which I have not had an opportunity 

 of examining since my return. About seventy species should thus be 

 known from Foulke Fjord, a number which not inconsiderably exceeds 

 the previous tale from any part of North-west Greenland ; and I have 

 no doubt that, had I had a little more time at my disposal, and been 



* From the Swedish. 

 467 



