373 



On the flat is a narrow, 2 — 3 (sometimes 4) m high sandy 

 area, extending lengthwise from north to south, the surface of 

 which is loose sand covered with Festuca rubra and Foa pra- 

 tensis, standing with intervals of abt. 5 cm between the straws. 

 Towards N. and N. E. the sand-area has nearly vertical walls 

 (fig. 9) in which are seen undulating, irregular, wedging out, 

 humous dark layers of a thickness of up to 6 cm and varying 

 in extension. Besides sand these dark layers contain clay and 

 some roots, both fresh and mouldered, but no remnants of 

 leaves and stems. 



The slopes have evidently been formed by the wind which 

 has broken up the sand and carried it towards south; thus, 

 there is in front (north of them), a flat with numerous little 

 hillocks of sand (30 — 60 cm in diameter and 20—40 cm high) 

 formed around or, at any rate, covered whith Carex incurva; 

 it is evidently the abrasion-flat where the sand has formely been 

 located. At the south end of the sandy area the sand settles 

 again in loose, softly undulating heaps with windstreaking in 

 the direction E. — W. In and upon the sand grows Salix arc- 

 tica f. groenlandica (possibly also S. glauca f. subarctica) and 

 Carex incurva, a more secondary constituent being formed by 

 Chamœnerium latifolium and Foa pratensis. Salix forms 

 metrehigh, on the leeside (S) freshgreen tufts, the interiors of 

 which are filled with sand, and which are covered on the wind- 

 side (N or NNW) by the white micaceous sand, which has only 

 a slight inclination. 



The willows evidently thrive exceedingly well under these 

 conditions, the individuals are bigger and more vigorous than 

 usually, boughs and stems certainly are seldom more than 

 1 cm thick but, in return, rank, and the ramification is richer 

 than usual. The leaves are large and close-sitting, and fructi- 

 fications are very common. The year-shoots are, on an average, 

 7 cm long and erect or at right angles with the surface of 

 the sand. The willow is best characterized as espalier on the 



