TORREYA 



March, igog 

 Vol. 9. No. 3. 



BOTANICAL OBSERVATIONS IN ICELAND AND 

 SPITZBERGEN * 



By Julia T. Emerson 



In July of this year the writer was so fortunate as to have the 

 opportunity of visiting some of the islands of the northern seas of 

 Europe, and it is hoped the following notes may prove of interest 

 to others who' are as ignorant of the countries seen as the writer 

 was. 



The steamer was in port often for a few hours only, in one or 

 two places for thirty-six hours, and the excursions on land never 

 went far inland or off the regular roads. A small trunk already 

 well filled, and nothing but a life preserver to press specimens 

 with made it necessary to keep the collections very small ; there- 

 fore the list of plants observed does not pretend to be complete, 

 especially as the writer was unfamiliar with the flora of northern 

 Europe. 



After a couple of days in Edinburgh, one being spent in the 

 city and the other in a hurried trip through the Trosachs, we 

 reached Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands in the middle of the day. 

 Substantial stone or brick houses with small windows and little 

 yards or gardens made a typical Scotch town. The sycamore 

 maple and the beech were the most conspicuous trees, and they 

 were evidently glad of the shelter of houses, for exposed speci- 

 mens were blown sideways by the strong winds, and the sur- 

 rounding hills looked bare of trees or shrubs. All the season- 

 able vegetables and flowers were growing in the cultivated 

 grounds near the town, but as the old Saint Magnus Cathedral and 

 the ruins of the bishop's and the earl's palaces were well worth 

 looking at there was no chance to get into the real country. 



[No. 2, Vol. 9, of TORREVA, comprising pages 21-44, was issued February 26, 1909.] 

 * Illustrated with the aid of the Catherine McManes fund. 



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