Arctic Plants: Geographical Distributioii 



113 B 



developed or. om arctic coast and in the mountains with a species distinct 

 from all those recorded from the Old World, since the genus has ho immediate 

 allies on our continent. None of the Old "World species have been recorded from 

 the arctic region and, with respect to the American representative of the genus, it 

 seems more probable that it actually represents one of the East Siberian species, 

 or at least, perhaps, a form of these. The stations on the Alaskan coast might 

 indicate that the species came from Siberia, and its occurrence on the northern 

 coast as well as in the Rocky mountains would be readily intelligible. Thus, 

 considered from a geographical point of view, and also in view of the absence of 

 allied species and even of genera, it would appear as if the North American plant 

 were to be more naturally understood as identical with one of the Old World 

 species, or perhaps as a form of one of these. 



Only one species of Pyrola was collected by the expedition, namely P. 

 grandiflora, but on the islands of the Arctic archipelago it is accompanied by 

 P. minor. The geographical distribution of P. grandiflora points especially to 

 the arctic region of our continent as having been its centre, and it will be remem- 

 bered that the species is very frequent in Greenland where it extends as far north 

 as Lat. 78° on the west coast and Lat. 73° on the east coast (Dus6n). Neverthe- 

 less, it is also quite widely distributed farther south, in Canada, for instance, 

 "Labrador, Mackenzie River," and in Asia it has even reached the Altai moun- 

 tains. And in the Altai mountains the species is accompanied .by P- rotundifolia, 

 a very near ally, furthermore by P- minor, P. secunda, Moneses uniflora, and 

 even by Chimaphila umbellata. 



I mention the occurrence of these Pyrolaceae in the Altai mountains since 

 we have in these mountains one of the most important centres of distribution 

 of the glacial flora, the arctic and the alpine, as demonstrated by Nathorst. 

 As stated above, this author has called attention to the fact that at the present 

 time the Altai mountains harbour a considerable element of the arctic flora, among 

 which many rare species, as for instance Pleuropogon Sabinii R. Br., formerly 

 considered to represent one of the very few species endemic to the polar region; 

 t was not until the year 1898 that it was discovered in the Altai mountains.' 



' "In alpinis montium altaioorum orientalium ad trajectum (2,800 m.) inter fl. Dshumala et Ak-koU 

 in locis humidis," according to label of specimen. 



24657—8 



