R. BROWN, FLORULA DISCOANA. 257 



Johann Martin Lange of Copenhagen, forming a summary of the 

 labours of all former Danish botanists, and a determination of the 

 collections of Egede, Vahl, Rink, Holboll, and others contained in 

 the Herbarium of the University of Copenhagen.* Drs. Kanef 

 and HayesJ have added to our knowledge of the plants of the 

 extreme northern shores of Greenland. Professor Lange's list, 

 dealing only with the Danish possessions in that country, does 

 not touch upon these. It is to be hoped, however, that he will 

 yet undertake an extended flora of Greenland, a task for which he 

 is so well qualified, both from his knowledge of the subject and 

 the opportunity which he possesses of consulting Herbaria. 



II. The present Collections. — During the summer of 1867, from 

 June until September, I j)assed the season in Danish Greenland, 

 collecting specimens in all departments of natural history, and 

 pursuing scientific investigations. The summer was very favour- 

 able for botanical research. Accordingly, though my time was 

 very limited, and greatly occupied with other pursuits, I made a 

 large collection of the plants, of all orders, found in the country 

 between Egedesminde and Kudlesait. As tlie country was chiefly 

 in the vicinity of Disco Bay, I have denominated the account 

 of these collections the Florala Discodna. These plants arc 

 here enumerated by the assistance of various botanical friends, 

 whose reputation is a sufficient guarantee for the accuracy of the 

 lists under their names. Though containing few plants really 

 new to science, the list is interesting as being the most complete 

 one of the plants of that section of country, and as adding to our 

 knowledge of the phyto-geography of the coast, — the earlier 

 collections being to a great extent useless for that purpose, as the 

 labels merely afforded the information that they were collected in 

 "Greenland." 



III. Climate. — During the winter the country is covered with 

 snow, and the plants protected under its warm covering. Dark- 

 ness then covers the whole face of the country for about four 

 months. About May and the beginning of June, according to the 

 state of the season, the earth again begins to appear. By July 

 the snow has generally cleared off" all the lower grounds, and only 

 lies in hollows, on the hills, or in places shaded from the sun. 



* Oversigt over Gronlands Planter af Job. Lange (Bibliothekar og Assistent 

 ved den botaniske Have) TillsBg Nr. 6 til Rink in lib. cit. ; Vahl om Stellaria 

 Grcenlandica og Dryas integrifolia (Nat. Selsk. Skriv. 4 Band. 2 H. Ss. 169- 

 172) ; see also Rink, " Om den geographiske Beskaffenhed af de danske 

 " Handels - distrikter i Nordgronland, &c." (Det Kongl. danske Vidensk. 

 Selskab. Sk. 5 Rsekke, 3 Bind, 1853, p. 71). Drejer's Revisio critica Caricum 

 borealium (Kroyer's Tidsskr. iii. p. 423). Ilornemann in Graah's Journey 

 to East Coast of Greenland (Transl.) Appendix; Greville on Jameson's 

 West-Greenland Plants, Mem. Wern. Soc. vol. iii. p. 426 ; Hooker on Sabine's 

 Plants, Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. xiv., and on Scoresby Plants in App. to Seoreby's 

 " Greenland "; Flora Danica; Retzius' Florae Scandinaviae Prodromus, &o. 



t Durand, in Appendix to Kane's " Arctic Explorations," vol. ii. Above, 

 p. 241. 



X Hayes' Open Polar Sea ; and Durand in Proc. Phil. Acad. Nat. Sciences, 

 March 1863; and partially in "Das nordlichste Land der Erde," Peter- 

 mann's Geographische Mittheil. (1867), p. 176 et seq. Above, p. 254. 

 36122. -R 



