1898-1902. No. 2.] VASCULAR PLANTS OF ELLESMERELAND. 121 



citizen, and the examination of the specimens further supported my 

 belief. My friend Mr. Ostenfeld, one of the authors of G. Edmondstonii 

 is of the same opinion, that no Greenland specimens ought to be referred 

 to that species, but that it is restricted to the above-mentioned area (in 

 Iceland it grows only in the eastern part of the island, viz., it has the, 

 same distribution there as Alchemilla faeroensis, (Lange) Buser). 



The right place of the var. caespitosum, Malmgren, Spetsb. Fan. 

 Fi., is, in my opinion, still doubtful, even if it is probably rightly placed 

 by Andersson & Hesselman in that sense in which they have taken it. 

 Malmgren himself, 1. c, referred it to C. alpinum, as comprising small- 

 leafed, densely caespitose forms, such as really exist and are to be 

 mentioned in the following as f. pulvinata. It is very probable, that 

 such forms of C. alpinum are found also in Spitsbergen, and they are, 

 when sterile, impossible to distinguish from C. Edmondstonii, which 

 will in all probability vary in the same direction in similar localities. 



The many forms of C. alpinum are generally directly due to the 

 conditions under which they live, as I am certain after having studied 

 them from nature, not forms which are in the act of differentiation to 

 species, as Andersson & Hesselman (1. c, p. 61) think, nor have they 

 taken their rise through hybridization. Indeed there exists a complete 

 series of gradations, but still I think the following four types may be 

 distinguished. 



1. A large, long-branched, matlike-spreading form with a pubescence 

 which accords rather well with that which Lindblom (Bot. Ant., p. 336) 

 describes as belonging to his a legitimum. It has a well-developed 

 inflorescence and consequently several scarious bracts. It is found 

 principally in slopes, old settlements and above all in rookeries. 



2. A densely caespitose, rather hairy form, not however so hairy 

 as ^ lanatum, Lindbl. It has not so many-flowered inflorescences as 

 the first, and the bracts are broader and more herbaceous. The sepals 

 also are here broader and more obtuse, and except for the pubescence, 

 it shows a certain resemblance to C- Edmondstonii. I have seen exactly 

 similar specimens from Spitsbergen, collected at Welcome Point by 

 WuLFF, and referred by him to the latter species (Bot. Beob. Spitzb., 

 p. 110). This form belongs to drier localities, gravel fields and gravelly 

 slopes, especially in the limestone region. 



3. A densely caespitose form, far less hairy than the last. The 

 leaves often are quite glabrous except for the ciliation of the margin. 

 The leaves also, as in the last-mentioned form, are very broad and sit 

 close together because the internodes are so short. It flowers very 



