DR. LINDSAY ON THE LICHEN-FLORA OF GREENLAND. 287 



peculiarities of its Lichen-flora. There is a total absence of forests, 

 and, consequently, of the shade and moisture which they provide 

 and conserve. Hence there is a comparative absence of the Graphi- 

 decB* StictcE, CoUemata, Calicia, tlsnecE, liamalincBy Pertusarice, 

 Endocarpa^ and generally of the corticolous Lichens so common in 

 Central Europe and America. The want of forests can scarcely, 

 however, account for the paucity of VcrrucaricB, many at least of 

 which are saxicolous. Though, as a general rulcj trees are absent, 

 they occur, as they do in Iceland, Faroe, Shetland, Orkney, and the 

 Hebrides — exceptionally, of stunted growth ; while there seems to 

 be no scarcity, at least at certain points on the western coast, of 

 woody bushes or shrubs. Thus the following trees or shrubs are 

 reportedf as occurring in Greenland : — Service-tree, Birch, Alder, 

 Willow, Juniper, Crowberry, Whortleberry, and Black Crake- 

 berry. 



While there is absence or scarcity of corticolous, fruticulose, 

 and foliaceous Lichens, there is an abundance of saxicolous forms, 

 referable mostly to the genera Lecidea, Lecanora, Squamaria^ 

 Parmelia, and Umbilicaria ; of terricolous species, referable to the 

 genera Cladonia^ Alecto?ia, Cetraria ; and of muscicolous species 

 and varieties, belonging to the genera Lecidea and Lecanora, 

 But the only prominent feature of the Lichen-flora of Greenland 

 recorded by travellers is the abundance of the UmbilicaricB, 

 which in many localities give a character to the colouring of the 

 landscape. Thus the author of the " Edinburgh Cabinet Library " 

 volume on Greenland writes of the interior : — " The mountains 

 " are either entirely bare^ or covered with a mourning veil of 

 " black Lichens " (p. 226). ..." The dark rocks are clothed 

 " with numerous sombre-coloured Lichens, which grow with great 

 " rapidity beneath the snow "\ (p. 380). Near Cape Lister, on 

 the east coast, he describes a " pavement of loose quartz or horn- 

 " blende stones, either naked or covered with black Lichens. 

 " These, with a few tufts of hardy plants, were all the vegetation 

 '' visible " (p. 247.) 



Some parts of the country are described as absolutely barren. 

 " Even the Greenlander, accustomed as he is to the horrors of 

 '' nature, calls these spots places of desolation " (p. 226). Of 

 certain parts of the coast, Graah says (1837), ^^ No sign of vege- 

 " tation was observable on these walls of rock ... at many 

 " places not even a bit of moss " (pp. 47, 48) — " moss " being a com- 

 prehensive and vague term generally used by travellers to include 

 Lichens, especially of the fruticulose kinds {e.g., Cladonia, Rama- 

 Una, Alectoria, Us?iea, Cetraria). In works of travel I not unfre- 

 quently find rocky or desert districts of country described as 

 barren of vegetation. For instance, Lord Haddo, speaking of the 



* Arthonia trahinella is the sole representative of this large family. 



f Edinburgh Cabinet Library volume on " Iceland, Greenland, and 4he 

 "Faroe Islands," 1840, p. 377, chapter on Botany, 



X This assertion, if it is founded on fact, is of much interest in connexion 

 with the question of Lichen-growth as a test of age, a subject of which I have 

 treated shortly in the Report of the British Association for 1867, p. 88, and 

 more fully in " The Farmer " of October 23, 1867. 



