338 



soaked, sliding mud; only farther down towards the bottom of 

 the valley does it collect in brooks which have cut in the 

 gravel stony beds which drain the localities. Round them the 

 bottom is stone-hard, dry as a bone and often scarred by 

 cracks forming a diagonal net. The vegetation of the valley was 

 rocky-flat formation with wide intervals between the vascular 

 plants. Cryptogams were almost totally wanting. 



The side of the Germaniaberg consists partly of steep 

 basalt crags, which are totally devoid of vegetation at their 

 bases; uppermost on the talus the plants of the rocky-flat 

 formation collect to a dense cover with a height of from 5 to 

 10 cm, the main part of which is formed by gramineous 

 species, Alsine biflora and Fotentillas. Denser and more pro- 

 nounced the herby-slope appears, however, on the edges of 

 step-shaped ledges east of Germania Harbour. It is chiefly 

 made up of Salix arctica, Vaccinium uliginosum v., Campanula 

 uniflora, Polygonum viviparum, Carex rwpestris and Poa cenisia. 



The cover is complete, 6 — 10 cm high and fresh-green. 

 Between the named species are found interspersed in lesser 

 numbers the following vascular plants: Potentilla nivea, P. 

 maculata^ P. emarginata, Stellaria longipes, Draba Fladni- 

 zensis, Saxifraga Jnrculus, S. decipiens, Cassiope tetragona, 

 Pedicularis fiammea^ Gentiana tenella, Taraxacum: phymato- 

 carpum, Erigeron unif^orus, Salix herbacea, Oxyria digyna, 

 Elyna Bellardi, Trisetum, Alopecurus alpinus, Equisetum 

 variegatum f. anceps, E. arvense, Cystopteris fragilis, Woodsia 

 ilvensis and Lycopodium Selago f. appressa. 



On the flat summit of the Germaniaberg the earth in 

 the depressions is often covered with boulders with a diameter 

 of 30 — 40 cm, which form a depressed mesh-plexus. Their 

 dark coatings of dessicated algae and horizontal stripes of clay 

 show that they are covered by water a certain time of the 

 year; in the spaces between them are found the largest asso- 

 ciations of Polemonium, >vhich often forms patches of 2 m^. 



