Arctic Plants: Morphology and Synonymy 33 b 



(Conspectus. I.e. p. 56) may be inserted here. It reads as follows: "R. altaicus 

 Laxm. {R. sulphureus Soland.) praecedenti (R. nivalis L.) arete affinis, a quo 

 recedit praecipue habitu robustiore, foliis radicalibus basi rotundatis v. cuneato- 

 contractis (nee reniformi cordatis), breviter (nee ultra medium) lobatis, caulinis 

 fere ad basin usque 6-7- fidis, petalis pallidioribus. sulfureis, stylo breviore. 

 In speeiminibus Groenlandicis lobos fol. radio, integros, nee ut DC. (Syst. veg. 

 1. p. 274) indieat, dentatos invenis." 



For comparison I insert some figures of the basal leaves of both species 

 (Pig. K). They both are perennial, but the subterranean stem is relatively 

 short, vertical or ascending, densely covered with old, withered leaf -sheaths; 

 secondary roots develop from the nodes of the stem, and the primary root is of 

 short duration, being totally absent when the plant has reached the flowering state. 



R. affinis R. Br. (Chloris Melvill. I.e. p. 189). 



This is sometimes difficult to distinguish. The original diagnosis reads as 

 follows: "foliis radicalibus pedato-multifidis petiolatis; eaulinis subsessilibus 

 digitatis; lobis omnium linearibus, caule erecto 1-2-floro cum calycibus ovariisque 

 pubeseentibus, fructibus oblongo-cylindraceis, aeheniis rostro re.curvo. Obs. 

 R. auricomo proxima species." 



Lange ^ gives the following supplementary diagnosis: "Fbli^ radicalia 

 reniformia, leviter lobata v. magis minusve profunde palmatifida; petala pallide 

 lutea, subtus fusco-venosa, minora et angustiora quam R. auricomi; eapitulum 

 carpellarum o.vali-oblongum (nee subglobosum), ceterum R. auricomum L. 

 affinis, sed humilior et gracilior." 



According to Lange (I.e.) R. affinis is very rare in Greenland; it is known 

 from East Greenland: Fr. Joseph's fjord 73°, and from West Greenland: Arsalik 

 in Isortok fjord. From the latter station some specimens have been figured in 

 Flora Danica Vol. 17. Tab. 3029 (1883), and these specimens give a good repre- 

 sentation of the species as well as the photographic reproduction of specimens 

 from Harbour fjord in Simmons' Flora of Ellesmere Land.'' On the accompany- 

 ing plate I have figured a flowering specimen from Bernard harbour and an 

 aehene taken from a fruiting specimen from Epworth harbour; the leaf (Fig. 

 2) is from Bernard harbour. 



While the typical species occurs in Spitzbergen, according to Nathorst.' 

 this author found also a plant which proved so different from typical R. affinis 

 that he described it as a subspecies: Wilanderi. Nathorst calls attention to the 

 following distinctive characters possessed by this subspecies : it is of low stature 

 and caespitose; the fruiting head is roundish, not cylindrical; the carpels are 

 thinner, with the body only a little longer than the recurved, rather coarse beak. 

 A figure is given by Anderson and Hesselman in their interesting account of 

 the Flora of Spitzbergen and Beeren Eiland (I.e.). J. Freyn, however, ("in lit- 

 teris," compare Andersson and Hesselman I.e.) on examining this plant as well 

 as the material of typical R. affinis collected by these authors, has reached the 

 conclusion that the specimens must be referred to R. arcticus Richards, and that 

 R. affinis does not grow in Spitzbergen at all; furthermore, this author insists 

 that all the material from Siberia, Davuria and Spitzbergen named R. affinis is 

 actually R. arcticus, and that R. affinis is confined to western North America, 

 viz.: the Rocky mountains, extending from there to Melville island. This 

 statement seems rather peculiar when we remember that Richardson's R. 

 arcticus came from arctic North America, collected on the first FrankUn ex- 



1 Conspectus Fl. Groenl. (I.e.) p. 67. 



2 Report on the Second Norwegian Arctic Expedition in the ' Fram," 1898-1902. No. 2. Christiania. 

 1906. 



» Nya Bidrag till Kannendomen om Spetsbergens Karlvaxter (Kgl. Sv. Vet. Akad. Hdlgr. 20. No. 6" 

 Stockholm, 1883, p. 23. 

 24657—3 



