124 B Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1918-18 



even if the Scandinavian inland ice forced the plants to migrate to the south 

 there might, nevertheless, have been time and conditions later on to give rise 

 to some endemic element even though the geographic position of the country is 

 rather northern. For, as pointed out by Nathorst, the Alps, in spite of their 

 relatively young age, possess many alpine species about two-thirds of which are 

 endemic to these mountains. 



If now the question be asked where the arctic American species originated, 

 we might suggest that the circumpolar species came from the arctic regions. 

 But the objection naturally will be made that these, viz.: P. lapponica, P. 

 hirsuta, and P. sudetica are at present better represented in Siberia where, more- 

 over, they are associated with allied species. And the Siberian alliance of 

 Pedicularis corresponds better with the circumpolar than does really the North 

 American. 



The genus is well represented in the Himalayas, since Hooker (Flora of Br. 

 Ind. I.e.) has credited 35 species to these mountains; of these 2 occur also in 

 Altai, 2 in Baikal, while P. verticillata and P. Oederi are, as we know, widely 

 distributed farther north, east, and west; the remaining 29 species are endemic 

 to the Himalayas. 



Several of the arctic species reach a considerably high latitude, for instance 

 those recorded from Spitzbergen; with regard to the Greenland species, P. 

 •hirsuta extends to Lat. 81° 7' on the west coast, and to Lat. 74° 40' on the east 

 coast (Dus6n) ; furthermore, P. lapponica, P. lanata, and P. capitata are reported 

 from resp. Lat. 78° 18', Lat. 79°, and Lat. 78° 18' on the west coast; P- flammea 

 reaches Lat. 74° on both coasts. And with regard to the altitude which the 

 species attain in the mountains, P. silvatica, P. lapponica, and P. Oederi ascend 

 to about 3,000 feet in Norway; in the Alps of Switzerland P- verticillata has been 

 recorded from 9,000 feet (Heer, I.e.), and in the Himalayas most of the endemic 

 species are alpine and .several reach an elevation as high as 14-16,000 feet; P. 

 verticillata and P- Oederi are in these mountains reported from resp. 13,000 and 

 15,000 feet. 



With regard to distribution, P. verticillata exhibits the widest distribution 

 especially southward, extending to the Alps of Switzerland, Altai, and the Hima- 

 layas; m the north it is absent from the arctic American archipelago, Greenland, 

 Spitzbergen, and Scandinavia; thus it cannot be considered circumpolar. The 

 present distribution of the species in the north, and at the same time its occur- 

 rence in the Alps, seems to indicate the probability of it having had a former, 

 more extensive distribution northward dmring the glacial epoch. P. flammea, 

 absent from Siberia but present in the arctic American archipelago, in Green- 

 land, Scandinavia, Russia, and even in Iceland and the Alps, evidently originated 

 in the north and presumably in the arctic regions of this continent and of western 

 Europe. On the other hand, P. Oederi, totally absent from North America and 

 Greenland but extending from Kamtchatka through Siberia and Russia to 

 Scandinavia and present in Altai and the Himalayas, may have had the centre 

 located in the north of the Eurasian continent since it is not at present a southern 

 species either in Europe or in Asia. P. euphrasioides is a genuine American 

 type with several close allies in the Rocky mountains, and the Asiatic element 

 of this species came undoubtedly from this continent where it is widely dis- 

 tributed south of the arctic region, from Labrador throughout the continent to 

 Bering strait. While P. arctica is known only from arctic America, Siberia, 

 and Kamtchatka, P. lanata occurs also in Greenland, Spitzbergen, and Nova 

 Zembla, but they both evidently originated from the polar regions of these two 

 continents,. America or Siberia; the same may be the case also of P- capitata. 

 The very local P. Kanei replaces P. arctica in Greenland; P. villosa "nulli 

 afBnium consocianda," as stated by Ledebour (I.e.), is a Siberian type. With 

 respect to P. groenlandica of the section Rhyncolophae, this is confined to the 



