66 A SUMMER IN GREENLAND 
One of the most attractive and abundant plants 
is Pyrola grandiflora (Fig. 26), a species unknown 
in Britain, but represented in our flora by its near 
relative the Winter Green: froma rosette of glossy, 
dark brown leaves the flowering shoot stands erect, 
bearing a series of wide-open flowers with pinkish 
white petals. The yellow and light pink flowers 
of species of Pedicu/aris, the genus which includes 
the Lousewort, crowded on stout stems with rich 
brown leaves add to the variety of colour. A 
species of Dryas, Dryas integrifolia, very similar to 
the British Alpine species, Dryas octopetala, 1s ex- 
ceedingly common. The pure white flowers and 
slender grey-green stems of the Alpine Cerastium 
(the Alpine Mouse-eared Chickweed), the vivi- 
parous Polygonum, its tall spikes with terminal 
clusters of small white flowers overtopping most 
of its neighbours, groups of blue Harebells, and 
on sandy beaches the darker sky-blue flowers of 
Mertensia, several different kinds of Saxifrage, 
species with shining white flowers on long stalks, 
and the more compact cushions of Saxifraga op- 
positifolia, a species common in the Highlands of 
Scotland and in Arctic lands and reaching an 
altitude of 17,000 feet in the Himalayas, with a 
rich display of purple-blue flowers; species of 
Ranunculus and Potentilla, and an attractive little 
Draba allied to the white Vernal Whitlow grass 
with yellow and white flowers; clumps of yellow 
Dandelions and Arnicas (Fig. 28): these with many 
other less showy plants in which brown is the 
dominant shade all have a share in the general 
