46 B Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18 



In comparing the arctic with the alpine plant, for instance ^vith a series of 

 specimens from the Rocky mountains of Colorado, the following deviations 

 were noticeable. The flowering stem is taller, more leafjf, and two to three 

 flowers may be developed; moreover the plant is more glandular hairy. Finally, 

 in some specimens from near the summit of James' peak (13,000 feet), a somewhat 

 remarkable structure occurs. . They grew in somewhat damp soil associated 

 with Sieversia, Dryas, Actinella, etc., and the flower-bearing stem reached a 

 height of about 15 cm., bearing about 7 flowers in a unilateral cyme; the flower- 

 bearing stem was very leafy and several of the basal leaves above the rosette 

 subtended runners of the usual structure. The rosette was not so compact as in 

 typical specimens and, moreover, a subterranean stem-portion, about 5 cm. m 

 length, extended from the rosette to a cluster of secondary roots; this stem- 

 portion bore some remnants of withered leaves and consisted thus of more than 

 a single internode. Some isolated young rosettes which grew near the flowering 

 specimens showed a similar elongated stem beneath the rosette-leaves, provided 

 with a corresponding system of secondary roots at the lower end of the stem. A 

 third type of ' specimens, however, explained this singular structure; it con- 

 sisted of a rosette of leaves with runners, but instead of being terminated by an 

 inflorescence the main shoot had continued to grow above the rosette as a 

 vegetative shoot bearing several scattered leaves and terminated by a rosette 

 of a more open structure than in the typical plant. In other words, the alpine 

 S. flagellaris may remain at a purely vegetative stage for several years, but not 

 as a single rosette, gradually increasing in size, as is the case in the arctic speci- 

 mens, but developing an erect, purely vegetative shoot, of which the apex 

 assumes the shape of a rosette to produce flowers in the succeeding year, and still 

 depending on the same fascicle of secondary roots. The age of such specimens 

 appeared to be not less than four years. The fact that none of the specimens 

 examined possessed a primary root naturally indicates that they owed their 

 existence to rosettes of runners, which undoubtedly is the most common method 

 of reproduction in this species. However, capsules with ripe seeds are frequently 

 to be found in alpine specimens, and even in Nova Zembla did I succeed in 

 finding fully matured capsules with seeds. 



The section Porphyrion to which S. oppositifolia L. belongs comprises 

 only three other species: S. biflora AIL, S. macropetala Kern., and(S. retusa Gouan. 

 Of these the two last are natives of the mountains of Middle and South Europe; 

 S. biflora is also a native of these mountains, but extends northward to Lapland 

 and northern Russia. 



S. oppositifolia, on the other hand, is widely distributed throughout the 

 northern hemisphere and abounds in the polar regions. It is actually an under- 

 shrub, since the profusely ramified branches above ground are woody. The 

 long stems are mostly prostrate with the internodes more or less stretched, with 

 the leaves opposite, and developing secondary roots quite freely. Erect, but 

 very short, floral shoots are developed in the axils of the cauline leaves, and 

 they bear only one flower, at first almost sessile, but distinctly pedicelled when 

 fruiting. In very large, old specimens the posterior parts of the stem have 

 frequently died off; thus the root-system is confined to secondary roots; but in 

 smaller, younger specimens, the primary root may be preserved; it is slender, 

 but quite deep, and bears several lateral branches. 



An interesting variety, Nathorsti, was found by Dus^n in East Greenland ^ 

 and described as follows: "Laxe caespitosa; ramuli steriles breves, c. 3 cm. longi, 

 sat dense foliati, foliis oppositis; ramuli floriferi elongati, 5-6 cm. longi, inferne 

 glabri sursum sensim albopilosi, apicem versus dense pilosi, remote foliati, 

 foliis medianis et supremis saltem alternis, rarissime oppositis; folia longiora et 

 remotius ciliata quam in typo, rotundate acutata, usque ad 10 mm. longa et 3 



> Bih. K. Sv. Vet. Akad. Hdlgr.- Vol. 27. Stockholm, 1902, p. 35. 



