42 H. G. SIMMONS. [sec. arct. exp. fram 



and, in sandstone-ground, only found in a single, small patch in the 

 innermost part of the Goose Fjord (sterile). 



Distribution: Greenland (probably to the far north), Arctic Ame- 

 rican Archipelago, Arctic America, Labrador, New Foundland, Rocky 

 Mountains, Alaska, Bering Sea region, northern and eastern Siberia, 

 Altai, Himalaya, Arctic Russia, Novaja Semlja, Iceland. 



Empetraceae. 



Empetrum nigrum, L. 



E. nigrum, Linnaeus, Sp. plant., 1753; Lange, Consp. Fl, Groenl.; Kruuse, List E. 



Greenl.; Nathoest, N. W. GrOnl. ; Hooker, Fl. Bor. Amer. ; Beitton & Brown, 



111. Fl. ; Haet, Bot. Br. Pol. Exp.; Simmons, Prel. Rep. et Bot. Arb. ; Kjell- 



MAN, in Vegaexp. ; Ledeboue, Fl. Ross. ; E. rubrwm, Durand, Enum. pi. Smith S. 



Fig. Fl. Dan., T. 975. 



I only found this species within a limited area, where, however, it 

 was rather abundant, and, as previously mentioned, covered wide stret- 

 ches of the peaty ground in the valleys, forming, together with Cassiope 

 and Myrtillus, a kind of heath. 



As I had had no opportunity of seeing other fruit than such as 

 had wintered over — I visited its localities only as early as the begin- 

 ning of July — it is impossible to state anything exact about the colour 

 of the ripe fruit. However, I got the distinct impression, that it was 

 red, not black, as is also the case in Foulke Fjord, the northernmost 

 locality of the plant in Greenland. Durand, Enum. pi. Smith S., p. 95, 

 calls it E. rubrum, Willd., but in Hayes' own list. Op. Pol. Sea, p. 398, 

 it is called E. nigrum, and Durand himself had previously (PI. Kan.) 

 used the latter name for the north-west Greenland plant. As indeed 

 the last-mentioned plant, and in all probability also, the Ellesmereland 

 one, has red drupes it must represent one of the red-fruited varie- 

 ties, but not E. nigrum var. rubrum, (Willd.) DC. This plant, ori- 

 ginally described by Willdenow in his edition (IV) of Linnaeus, Sp. 

 plant. IV, p. 713, and afterwards rightly reduced to a variety by De- 

 candolle, Prodr., 16, I, p. 26, is, however not only distinguished from 

 the typical form by its red fruit, but also by its pubescent twigs. This 

 variety of which I have seen specimens from several localities in the 

 southern part of South America, is entirely south-temperate. Further, 

 there is another variety in the southern Andes, which also seems to have 

 red drupes var. Andinum,, (Phil.) DC, but that also seems to differ from 

 the arctic plant. But there is still another red-fruited variety distin- 



