ANTARCTIC PLANT GEOGRAPHY 35 1 



to attempt to cultivate on certain of the mossy oases various species 

 of hardy Arctic plants, such as Papaver radicatiim, Ranunculus sul- 

 phicreus, Cerastium alpinum, Saxifraga oppositifolia, etc., which all 

 prosper and produce seed in Spitsbergen.^^ 



COLLECTING 



In addition to laboratory work, much still needs to be done in the 

 way of collecting. Further collections are much to be desired, espe- 

 cially from the Pacific and Indian sides, little known except by the 

 various collections from Graham Land and South Victoria Land. 

 Among the Antarctic lands from which no plants are known are Coats 

 Land, Enderby and Kemp Lands, Queen Mary Land, Gates Land, 

 Wilkes Land, Charcot Land, and Alexander I Island, though it is 

 quite to be expected that their flora is very scanty since they are more 

 or less covered with ice and little bare rock appears. 



THE SUB-ANTARCTIC ISLANDS AS A FIELD FOR BOTANICAL 

 EXPLORATION 



Turning now from the true Antarctic Regions to the sub-Antarctic 

 islands, it must be said that it is here that the most fruitful botanical 

 collections of future expeditions will probably be made. Although a 

 number of them have been studied botanically all would be worth the 

 attention of a careful explorer, especially as regards the lower forms 

 of plant life. Bouvet Island is altogether unknown from a botanical 

 or almost any other standpoint. According to the Valdivid's reports, 

 it is entirely covered with ice and is devoid of vegetation: moreover 

 it offers no landing place. Gn the other hand, previous voyagers have 

 given the island a slightly better reputation, Bouvet (1739) and Lind- 

 say (1808) both reporting trees and shrubs (? tussock grass), and 

 Morrell (1823) speaking of small spots of vegetation. Whatever may 

 be the case it well merits a visit, and in view of its probable accessi- 

 bility at all times of the year, even in a steel vessel, it is to be hoped 

 it will not be long before we have some definite knowledge of the nat- 

 ural history of the island and its surrounding waters. Gough Island, 

 I can assure any intending botanical explorer, will more than repay 

 a visit, and it is not difficult of access, though landing may be a 

 little troublesome.^^ Many important botanical discoveries could be 

 relied on. 



15 On my return from the Antarctic in 1904 I attempted to make such an experiment by sending 

 to the Argentine meteorological station at the South Orkneys a supply of seeds of 22 Arctic species of 

 phanerogams, with a request to have them planted in a certain spot which I chose as suitable during 

 my stay at Scotia Bay in 1903. I understand that all the seeds that were planted failed to sprout, 

 but the absence of a biologist on the spot may have militated against the success of the experiment. 



15 R. N. Rudmose Brown: Diego Alvarez, or Gough Island, Scottish Geogr. Mag., Vol. 21, 190S, 

 pp. 430-440; idem: The Botany of Gough Island (Scottish Natl. Antarctic Exped. Sci. Res., Vol. 3: 

 Botany, pp. 33-44), Edinburgh, 1912. 



