ON THE BOTANY OF THE BRITISH POLAR EXPEDITION. 55 



East Greenland by Scoresby, and is quoted as a Greenland plant 



by Watson, but has since been excluded from the Arctic flora. 



(Gnaphalium syhaticum, L. I gathered specimens appearing to 



be typical G. sylvaticum as distinct from G. norvegicum, Gunn., in 

 Englishman's Bay). 



Habenaria aUrida, Br. Not recorded north of 64° 14' by Lange, 

 nor noticed by Brown ; nor is it given in Walker's plants of Green- 

 land, gathered by H.M.S. Fox, nor in Diirand's list of Kane's 

 plants. Arctic in Greenland, Hooker. 



Listera cordata, Br. South Greenland to lat. 64° 10' in Lange' s 

 list; an addition to the Flora of Arctic Greenland. Arctic else- 

 where only in Europe. 



Polypodium Dryopterw, L. South Greenland to lat. 64° 10', 

 Lange ; an addition to the Flora of Arctic Greenland. Arctic 

 elsewhere in East America and Europe. 



Sir Joseph Hooker remarks that "no less than fifty-seven 

 Arctic Greenland species are absent in Arctic East America:" 

 Listera cordata adds another to the number. Further, he says that 

 "perhaps the most remarkable fact of all connected with the 

 Greenland Flora is that its southern and temperate districts, 

 extending south to lat. 60°, do not add more than seventy-four 

 species to its flora." The last two species given above reduce this 

 number to seventy- two, and since these two South Greenland 

 plants are thus Arctic also in Greenland, they tend to confirm 

 his apparently paradoxical remark that " Greenland, as a whole, is 

 more Arctic in its vegetation than Arctic Greenland is." 



These two plants add two to the genera, as well as to the species, 

 of Arctic Greenland. 



In Disco, the valleys around Godhavn, Lyngemarken, and 

 especially Englishman's Bay, are most attractive for the botanist, 

 the latter yielding several new species. The island is chiefly com- 

 posed of gneiss, syenite, and trap ; upon gneiss and other granitoid 

 ^ocks the Kricwea seem to thrive best : they were plentiful at 

 Egedesminde. Disco is somewhat triangular in form, and about 

 sixty-five miles in length from east to west and from north to 

 south ; the interior is an ice-capped plateau attaining a maximum 

 height of about 5000 feet. From the plateau of Skarvelfield 

 (3300 feet), the highest ascent I made, a good view of the island 

 tuay be obtained. Up to within a few hundred feet of that altitude, 

 on patches bare of snow, a few plants still maintained a footing, as 

 Sas^raga hivalw, S. opposite folia. S. cmpitosa, Potentilla nivea, and 



Eriophorum Sckeuchzeri; mosses and lichens seemed comparatively 

 scarce. 



Our visit here was somewhat early for botany, the summer only 

 petting in thoroughly while we were there. The Governor of Disco 



informed me that the season of 1875 was about a month later than 

 usual. 



Hittenbank, lat. 69° 42', July 16, 1875. 



Here we formed a boating excursion to examine loomeries and 

 see the Itifdliarsuk Glacier from a ridge at the head of Svarte 

 v °gel Bay, about ten miles away. I landed a couple of times 



