Arctic Plants: Geographical Distribution 95 b 



Considering the geographical distribution of B. glandulosa, it extends from 

 the north coast to both coasts of Bering strait (Kjellman), and to the northeast 

 coast of Siberia, from where Kjellman has recorded it: Pitlekaj Long. 173° 24' 

 W.; according to this author the variety sibirica Ledeb. of 5. nana is identical 

 with B. glandulosa Michx. Towards east B. glandulosa is known from south 

 Greenland, where the variety rotundifolia Regel is not uncommon, but it is 

 totally absent from Europe. On our continent the species foUows the Rocky 

 mountains as far south as to Colorado, where it is mostly sub-alpine, and where 

 it occurs only as the typical plant. It would thus appear as if the species devel- 

 oped on this continent, and presumably in the northern, though not arctic, zone. 



Finally may be mentioned th&t Betula papyrifera Marsh., the Canoe birch, was 

 observed by Dr; R. M. Anderson ^ in the Mackenzie delta; the birch was growing 

 on the east bank of the delta, not farther than 50 miles south of Richard island. 

 It was not very numerous, nor very tall, not over eight or ten feet in height. 



No specimens of Alnus were collected, but Dr. R. M. Anderson has informed 

 me that Alnus alnobetula (Ehrh.) Koch was found many miles north of the limit 

 of spruce in the Mackenzie delta; according to Mr. E. A. Preble ^ this alder 

 occurs throughout the region from the Saskatchewan northward to the tree 

 hmit. I presume this Alnus is the same as "A. ovata (Schr.) var. repens Wormskj.", 

 which by Kjellman is reported from the Siberian coast, from Bering strait to 

 Ural, and which Lange has credited to Greenland between Lat. 61° 10' and 67° 

 N.; with respect to its habit in South Greenland Lange writes: "Floret post 

 foliationem, quae mense Junio incipit. Truncus ad 9 ped. altus, et fere brachii 

 crassitie, observantibus Schiodte et Kornerup, occurrit." Preble (loc. cit. p. 

 525) also gives the hoary alder, Alnus incana (L.) Willd., as occurring along the 

 Mackenzie north to Peel river. 



According to Gray's Ne\? Manual, the specific name alnobetula has been 

 changed to crispa (Ait.) Pursh, since A. viridis of the Manual ed. 6 is not DC, 

 and A. alnobetula Am. auth. is not Koch. 



"A species of alder was also found growing abundantly on the south side 

 of the Endicott range in Alaska, along the banks of streams tributary to the east 

 fork of the Chandalar and the Sheenjek. The inner bark of this alder is much 

 used by the inland Alaskan Eskimos for staining the flesh side of dressed wolver- 

 ine and occasionally caribou skins. The outer layer of bark is scraped off, the 

 inner bark removed, cut into small bits, moistened with water and applied to 

 the skins, the resulting colour being a burnt sienna similar to the ochre-stained 

 skins of the Siberian Eskimos."— (R. M. Anderson, notes). 



Covering the immense area in the arctic and southern zones, as given in 

 the accompanying table (Table 1), we have in Polygonum viviparum and Oxyria 

 two genuine arctic types of circumpolar distribution. On the north coast of 

 Siberia they both were collected by Kjellman, Oxyria between Long. 68° E. 

 and Long. 173° 24' W., and the Polygonum between Long. 80° 58' E. and Long. 

 173° 24' W.; Oxyria was even among the plants which this author collected on 

 the northernmost point of Asia: Cape Tscheljuskin, Lat. 77° 36'. They are 

 also among the plants growing nearest the Pole, both having been recorded from 

 Lat. 82° 27' N. (Hart) ; in the mountains further south they ascend to an eleva- 

 tion of from 9,500 to 10,000 feet in the Alps of Switzerland (Heer) ; in the Rocky 

 mountains, Colorado, they both occur at 14,000 feet, and in the Himalayas they 

 even reach an elevation of from 10,000 to 15,000 feet (Hooker). 



Oxyria is monotypic; P. viviparum is of the small section 5isiorto, of which, 

 furthermore, P.Bistorta was collected by the expedition; a near ally of the latter 

 is P. bistortoides Pursh, a native of the Rocky mountains, and frequent in the 

 alpine region as far south as Colorado. But there is another species of this 



1 StefansM)ji, V. My Life with the Eskimo New York, 1813, p. 444 m 97 tt « 



2 A Biol^ical Investigation of the AthabaskarMackenzie Region. (ISortli Am. Fauna. No. 27, U. b. 

 Dept. of Agric, Washington, 1908, p. 525.) 



