Ill 



ON THE BOTANY OF THE BRITISH POLAR 



EXPEDITION OF 1875-6. 



By Henry Chichester Hart, B.A., Naturalist to H.M.S. 



i Discovery.' 



(Continued from p. 7H). 



It is curious to notice how some flowers, as Saxifrages and 

 Poppies, retain their petals after being buried in the snow at the 

 close of the summer; some Drabas do the same; and this also 

 may be taken as an indication that the seed-ripening stage is far 

 from being reached. 



The more northern the latitude, the more stunted most species 

 of course become ; some, however, lose but little of their 

 dimensions, as Dryas, Saxifraga oppositij'olia, S. cmpitosa. Care* 



/ 



ijfinis, Alopecurm alja'uus, Saxif\ 



Cerastium cdpinum, Papaver niulicaule, &c. Samples of the same 

 plant gathered early and late in the season also vary very 

 considerably, and in an unusual manner : owing to the shortness 

 of the allotted time, all plants strive to get through their life- 

 stages as rapidly as possible, coming into flower with the utmost 

 haste; thus an early -gathered specimen of Armaria verna with 

 hardly any leaves or stems, but in full flower, is very unlike 

 the same plant two months later with its far-trailing branches 

 and matted foliage ; Potentilla nivea will flower, too, when about 

 an inch in height, later on reaching a stature of eight or ten 

 inches, and bearing numerous flowers. The most stunted plants seem 

 to be those which suffer most from being shifted about with moving 

 mud, as Poppy, Cerastium, and Saxifraga cernua; these may often 

 be met with travelling down a hill- side ready to cling to any 

 support. Another check to the natural growth of many plants is 

 that all, even marsh plants, such as Eriophora, Car ices, &c, must 

 be prepared for a thorough baking and drying before the end of 

 the season, though it opens with a wide-spread deluge. 



The total number of plants gathered at the different stations 

 gives the following figures, only those districts which were at least 

 tolerably well explored being separately accounted for. The whole 

 number of species enumerated will be found to be one hundred and 

 thirty-seven. Of these, 



1. Disco yielded - 119 



2. Proven - - 67 

 5. Poulke Fiord - 44 

 0. Cape Sabine - 35 



7. Hayes' Sound yielded 51 



11. Polaris Bay - - 22 



12. Discovery Bay - - 69 



13. Floeberff Beach- - 29 



The numbers before the names refer to the districts as already 



given. 



Greenland, north of the Humboldt Glacier (lat. 79° to 80°), and 

 coming under districts 10 and 11, all north of 81°, yielded 26 

 species, of which four, viz., Pedicularis hirsuta, liamumdus nivalis, 



