

ON THE BOTANY OF THE BRITISH POLAR EXPEDITION. 207 



Sarifraijacea. 

 Saxifraifii Aizoon, Jaeq. 



Dist. 1. Lat. 69° 15' to 69° 55'. G. 



Lyngemarken and Englishman's Bay, Disco. Head of Svarto 



Vogel Bay, near Bittenbank. 



S. oppositifolia , L. 



Dist. 1 2 "3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13. Lat. 68° 42' to 83° 8'. 



E., W., and G. 



Grows in every sort of situation, but luxuriantly only in moist 

 places at low levels. Sometimes produces magnificent effects of 

 purple and rose against the snow, as at Foulke Fiord. This 

 Saxifrage opened its leaf-buds in a perfectly exposed situation at 

 Polaris Bay, with the thermometer at 9° F. on May 14th ; and it 

 was the first to flower at St. Patrick's Bay, June 7. Floeberg 

 Beach (H. W. F. and coll. Moss); Cape Joseph Henry (H. W. F.) 

 Gathered by Lieut. Aldrich, at Ward Hunt Island, lat. 83° 4 , and 

 Cape Columbia, lat. 83° 8', the most northern land yet visited by 

 civilised man. 



Sea-level to 2000 feet in Discovery Bay. 



S. ca-spitosa, L. (var. miflora, Br.) 



Dist. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13. Lat. 68° 42' to 82° 27'. 



E., W., and G. , , , 



I am inclined to think that this plant entered more largely 

 than any other into the sum total of all our Arctic vegetation ; 

 though not flowering as freely by any means as the last, nor 

 perhaps occurring so plentifully at low levels, it has the advantage 

 at high altitudes. It is a very variable plant ; cauline leaves 

 entire or tripartite, sometimes palmately lobed with the middle 

 segment tripartite, other plants with both cut and entire eaves on 

 the same stem ; leaves glabrous, or even very hairy, dark or paie 

 green ; flowers-white, cream-coloured, or pale yellow, iiie paie 

 yellow-flowered variety has usually a more diffuse habit, ion er 

 peduncles, smaller flowers, and the leaves fringed with gland- 

 tipped hairs. In Discovery Bay this latter was common and 

 looked very different from the white-flowered form, floeberg 



Beach (H. W. F. and Moss coll.) 



Sea-level to 2000 feet in Discovery Bay. 



D^f.' L : - - 9. Lat. 69° 15' to 80° 24 . W. and G 

 Typical 8. cmpUom with many, or more ^™£ 

 stems, was gathered only at Disco and at Badniore Harbour. 



DirT2 L 3-567 8---12. Lat. 69° 15' to 81° 42'. 

 At f^^under and amongst ***^J*%£% 



little auk, this plant was remarkably luxuriant ; specn ns gathered 

 there were eight and ten inches in height with many flowei 

 often as much as an inch across, and with six seven or aght 

 petals apiece. Very rarely flowering in Discovery Bay, and then 

 only one on the top of stem late in the season. 



300 to 1100 feet. 



