556 THE ARCTIC FLORA. 



Sweden, Russia, and Siberia. There we encounter those ultimate 

 masses of foliage which have any pretensions to the title of Forests 

 Pines, Firs, Elms, and Birches are the only species which compose 

 them. Further north these trees form but small woods, alternating with 

 clumps of poplars and dwarf willows. The Myrtle of our sub- Alpine 

 forests, and a small winding Honeysuckle, with rounded leaves, rosy 

 and fragrant flowers, cover in certain places considerable surfaces. 

 Still further north the arborescent species are completely wanting ; 

 but vivacious plants, belonging to the families of Ranunculacere, Saxi- 

 fragacese, Cruciferse, and Gramineae, spread out their flowers on the 

 surface of the rocks. To the firs and birches, already so stinted, suc- 

 ceed, in the same localities, a, few scattered shrubs ; among others, 

 the thorny Gooseberry bush, the common Strawberry, the Raspberry- 

 pseudo-Mulberry (Rubus Chamcemoriis) exclusively indigenous to 

 these regions and the Oleander of Lapland (Rhododendron Laponi- 

 cum). Still advancing northward, we meet, on the extreme confines 

 of the continent, some Dravas (Cruciferai), Potentillas (Rosacece), 

 Bur-weeds and Rushes (Cyperacece), and, finally, a few Mosses and 

 Lichens. The commonest mosses are the Splechnum, which resemble 

 small umbels ; and, in moist localities, the Sphagnum, or Bog-Moss, 

 whose successive accumulation, from a very remote epoch, has formed, 

 with the detritus of some Cyperacecs, extensive breadths of peat, 

 which might be utilized as a combustible. The lichens and the 

 mosses are the last plants which, owing to the simplicity of their 

 organization, are able to develop and reproduce themselves on the 

 Arctic rocks and under the dense layer of snow which covers them. 

 Their abundance in almost all the polar wastes, where every other 

 nutritious plant is wanting, proves an inestimable benefit for the few 

 inhabitants of those deserts. It will suffice to mention, as representa- 

 tives of the singular family of Cryptogams, the Iceland Moss, which 

 medical science employs in the treatment of pulmonary diseases ; and 

 the Reindeer Moss, whose foliaceous expansions frequently cover vast 

 extents of soil, and form veritable pasture-grounds where the reindeer 

 find almost their only nutriment. 



