THE PLANTS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. f>Ql 



blown and elevated parts of the islands are Silene aeaulis, Arenaria maorocarpa, and 

 Eritrichiurrl chamissonis, all forming cushions a foot or more in diameter, Uutrema 

 edwardsii, Papaver radicatvm, Qeum rossii, Potentilla villosa, Artemisia globularia, 

 Campanula lasiocarpa, Pedioularis langsdorfii, and Pedicularis lanata. Gn the more 

 exposed places and of not nearly so general distribution are Gardamine helUdifolia, 

 Lychnis apetala, Ohrysosplenium beringianum, Saxifraga davurica, Saxifraga serpyl- 

 lifolia, Aster sibiricus, and Oentiana glauca. 



Grassy banks and upland meadows are frequent, generally near the sea, and on 

 these grow many species that are not found on the bleaker and more elevated parts 

 of the islands. Conspicuous among these are Ranunculus altdieusy Ranunculus 

 Esclischoltzii, Valeriana capitata, Taraxacum officinale var. lividum,, two species of 

 Polemonium and Pedicularis verticillata. Glaytonia sarmentosa, Viola langsdorfii, 

 Gentiana frigida, and Primula eximia are sometimes found^ with the above species, 

 but are more common in damp sheltered places among the rocks in the interior of 

 St. Paul Island. On one bank near a little pond at the southwest end of St. Paul 

 Island I found Goptis trifolia, Geranium erianthum, Arnica unalaskensis, and Veronica 

 stelleri, not seen elsewhere on the Pribilof Islands. 



There are many level areas of considerable extent on both islands, called by Dr. 

 Merriam "moss-bogs," but no true bog plants apre found on them, though the soil is 

 saturated with water and covered with a thick carpet of moss, principally Hypnum 

 and Bacomitriun — little Sphagnum. 'No plants are found on these areas that do not 

 grow on the higher and drier ground, though Empetrum nigrum is in such places 

 more abundant than elsewhere. 



Special reference has been made to but a small part of the whole number of 

 species on the islands, but those named give, it is hoped, a general idea of the nature 

 of the vegetation. Many of 'the commoner species have not been mentioned and no 

 grasses or carices have been referred to, but the relative abundance, and generally 

 the habitat, of each species is given elsewhere, 



GEOanAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OP THE PHAENOGAMS AND yASCULAR CRYPTOGAMS 

 KNOWN TO OCCUR ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



No part of this paper has been prepared more thoroughly and carefully than that 

 showing the geographical distribution of the plants found on the Pribilof Islands. 

 Some of the plants may have a wider range than I have indicated, but I have in all 

 cases good authority for the occurrence of species in the districts I have referred 

 them to. The authorities consulted will be found at the end of the list itself. This 

 part of my paper was written in conjunction with Mr. Theodor Holm. Mr. Holm has 

 collected from Greenland eastward to Nova Zembla, I from Labrador and Hudson 

 Bay westward to Bering Straits and Kamchatka. 



As will be seen from the list itself, the great majority of the plants found on the 

 Pribilof Islands are circumpolar in their range, and in this respect the flora of the 

 Pribilof Islands affords a marked contrast to that of the Commander Islands, in 

 nearly the same latitude, on the west side of Bering Sea. Many of the species are 

 the same on both groups of islands, but on the Commander Islands the number of 

 species that are essentially Asiatic far exceeds the number of those on the Pribilof 

 Islands that are distinctly American. 

 5947— PT 3 36 



