374 C. H. Ostenfeld. 



The region explored by the first Thule Expedition belongs most 

 naturally to the northern part of N. W. Greenland in spite of the fact 

 that Independence Bay has its opening towards East, and therefore the 

 collection here treated means a considerable addition to the poor flora 

 hitherto known from this northernmost part of Greenland. 



The list of the flowering plants and ferns given below enumerates 

 45 species, 28 of which were not found before in the northern part of 

 N. W. Greenland, the flora of which consequently now has (28 + 27 =) 

 55 species. 10 species recorded earlier from N. W. Greenland did not 

 not occur in Freuchen's collection, viz. Poa cenisia, Dupontia Fisheri, 

 Juncus biglumis, Melandrium apetalum, Hesperis Pallasii, Braya pur- 

 purascens, Lesquerella arctica, Cochlearia officinalis and Ranunculus 

 nivalis (the last one being represented by the nearly allied R. sulphureus). 



Several of these (e. g. Hesperis, Braya, Lesquerella and Cochlearia) 

 are too conspicuous to have been overlooked by Freuchen's keen eyes, 

 and it is therefore probable that they do not occur in the region visited 

 by him, which may be too far North for them. On the other hand the 

 grass-like plants may have occurred in the region in question where 

 undoubtedly several more grasses and the like could be found, if in- 

 vestigated by a botanist. 



As it might be expected, most of the species collected are hardy 

 and common arctic species of a wide geographical distribution. They 

 occur both to the east and to the west of the area investigated. But 

 still some species may deserve a special attention. I may here point 

 out the discovery of the rare arctic grass Pleuropogon Sabinei, which 

 was hitherto only found in one place in N. W. Greenland and has been 

 reported from Germania Land and other places on the N. E. Green- 

 land coast. Arctic species not occurring everywhere are further: Eri- 

 geron compositus, Taraxacum phymatocarpun and Poa abbreviata, the 

 last being evidently common in the area investigated. As species the 

 occurrence of which at this high latitude was not to be taken for 

 granted, I may name: Statice armeria, Cardamine bellidifolia, Trisetum 

 spicatum, Sagina intermedia, Silène acaulis, Woodsia glabella etc. 



The more common and conspicuous species in the area seem to be, 

 besides Poa abbreviata, — Carex nardina, Papaver radicatum, Saxifraga 

 oppositifolia, Cerastium alpinum, Dryas and Salix arctica. 



The localities where Freuchen had time to collect plants are the 

 following : 1 



A. The region of the Danmarks Fjord. 



18. May: The Zigzagdalen, Sjællandssletten, on the western side; 

 moraine, dry, sandy soil. 



1 A preliminary report on the Expedition was given in Geografisk Tidsskrift, 

 Bd. 22, Hefte V, 1914, Köbenhavn, by Knud Rasmussen: Foreløbig Beretning om 

 "Den første Thule-Ekspedition" 1912—1913. 



