1898-1902. No. 2.] VASCULAR PLA NTS OF ELLESMERELAND. 131 



but many intermediate forms will also be found, that could as well be 

 referred to one variety as another, and taken together they form an 

 almost complete form-series between S. reticulata^ on the one side, 

 and S. glauca on the other. 



The broad-leaved, reticulata-\ike forms appear to be most common 

 in Asia, in Greenland and America they are rather rare, here we have 

 instead the var. Brownii as the most common form, especially to the 

 north. In southern Greenland the var. groenlandica is most common 

 and connects the species with S. glauca. Of the latter, Lundstrom 

 distinguishes a var. subarctica, which, however, I am not able to se- 

 parate from (S. arctica var. groenlandica. All the last-mentioned forms 

 appear also in Asia, but are less common there than the typical S. 

 arctica, Pall. 



In Ellesmereland, the var. Brownii was by far the most common. 

 It grew in almost every locality, very differently developed according 

 to the nature of the habitat. Sometimes it had branches a yard long, 

 and an inch or even more in diameter, but generally, it was much 

 smaller. The branches, however, always lay closely pressed to the 

 soil or even half buried in it, or creeping among moss, at most they 

 would lie espalier-like over the surface of a rock, they never rose free 

 into the air. In the dense vegetation of slopes and rookeries the 

 branches sometimes rose a little from the ground, and here usually the 

 broad-leaved forms were found. The var. groenlandica, Anderss. [S. 

 groenlandica, LundstrOm, 1. c; Lange, Consp. FI. Groenl.) as mention- 

 ed, is principally a South Greenland plant, which is, however, also found 

 in the northern parts of the land (cf. Hartz, 1. c, and Ostenfeld, Flow, 

 pi. Cape York). In Ellesmereland it was very rare, yet I have specimens 

 referred to it. 



Young plants of S. arctica often show a considerable likeness to 

 S. polaris or S. herbacea, and may have been taken for one of them 

 (797, 1346, represent such a young state). 



Salix arctica was one of the first plants to show signs of life in 

 the spring. I have seen the buds burst and the aments protrude, as 

 early as the middle of May in favorable localities, but then it developed 

 more slowly than some other species and did not attain to flowering as 

 soon as Saxifraga oppositifolia. But generally it came next on the 

 list of flowering species. The capsules were generally ripe rather early. 



' There exist some older statements about S. reticulata from Greenland, which 

 are doubtless to be referred to such forms, as the real S. reticulata is never 

 found there by later collectors. 



