1898-1902. No. 16.] FLOW. PLANTS AND FERNS OF N.-W. GREENLAND. 83 



Here, as in a good many other cases, the descriptions of species 

 given by GHAMISSO and SCHLECHTENDAL have been overlooked or un- 

 justly put aside; and it is only recently that they have again been taken 

 into consideration. This is done for Montia by H. LINDBERG, 1. c., who 

 has pointed out that the M. fontana of LINNAEUS is not uniform: even 

 though the differences between its constituents are not greater than to 

 allow of their being placed as subspecies under it. The two species of 

 GMELIN, Fl. Bad., M. minor and M. rivularis are, however, too nearly 

 connected to be held apart. Both are of southerly distribution, and 

 LINDBERG places them together as subsp. minor under M. fontana, with 

 a variety rivularis comprising the form from running water. From 

 M. fontana *minor, with its strongly tuberculate seeds, the other subsp. 

 lamprosperma, (CHAM.) LINDB. fil., is well distinguished by its smooth, 

 glossy seeds. A similar division is already made by FENZL in LEDEBOUR, 

 Fl. Ross. II, p. 152, even if the two plants are here designed as a chon- 

 drosperma and /? lamprosperma. FENZL also says there that both 

 show the same variations in mode of growth and in the shape of the 

 leaves; but besides this he speaks of forms intermediate between the 

 varieties. Already CHAMISSO speaks of his new species as especially 

 arctic and alpine; its distribution is, however, not easy to give without 

 an inspection of a considerable quantity of material, as most of the flo- 

 ras use collective names. The Western Greenland plant, however, is 

 always M. lamprosperma, which alone seems to enter the arctic region, 

 and therefore may as well keep the rank its author has given it. I must 

 take it for granted, that WETHERILL'S plant is identical with that of the 

 southern coast. 



Occurrence. S. Inglefield Gulf: Gape Acland (WETHERILL). 



Distribution: Danish West Greenland, Arctic America (?, compare 

 BRITTON & BROWN, 1. c.), Alaska, Unalaschka, California (?), Andes of 

 South America, Eastern Siberia (?), Northern Europe, Faeroes, Iceland. 

 M. minor is distributed in Europe from the southernmost part of Scan- 

 dinavia southwards, and it probably has a corresponding distribution in 

 Asia and perhaps in America. 



Polygonaceae. 

 Polygonum viviparum, L. 



P. viviparum, SIMMONS, Fl. Ellesm.; OSTENFELD, Plantes N. E. 

 Gronl. [P. viviparum, DICKIE, Not. fl. pi., in INGLEFIELD, Summer Search; 



