20¢ Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1918-18 
out upon the beach region are far more favourable on the mainland than on the 
gravel islands. The vegetation of the latter, therefore, contains few plants, 
both in number of species and individuals, and will be treated separately. 
Gravel and Sand Islands 
Spy island. Spy island, about Long. 149°40’ W., is merely a low sand 
spit with gravel and much driftwood piled up, only a few feet above sea level. 
There are really 2 or 3 closely connected sand islands forming a semi-circle, 
the result of the action of waves and ice. The west end is highest and broadest 
and encloses a lagoon with salt or brackish water which freezes over later than 
corresponding bodies of water on the mainland coast though it is only about one 
foot deep; it was completely open on Sept. 3rd, 1913. Apart from the mosses 
and the variously coloured lichens on the drift wood and the green filamentous 
alge filling the lagoon and washed up as a thick and broad layer along its margin, 
the vegetation is very poor, and I only noticed half a dozen species of flowering 
plants. They were Glyceria vilfoidea, Stellaria humifusa, Halianthus peploides, 
the latter in pillows up to one foot in diameter and occurring especially on the 
higher part of the sand, Cochlearia groenlandica, here and there, Potentilla 
pulchella, and Mertensia maritima. Elymus mollis was not seen. 
It will be noticed that these plants are either species typical of dry sandy 
ground or succulent-leaved species typical of beaches. It is interesting that 
only half a dozen species have succeeded in establishing themselves from seeds 
carried over to the desolate island from the mainland to the south and adjacent 
islands to the east and west. Spy islands may therefore be characterized as 
extremely barren. Nevertheless, they cannot be of very recent origin—they 
have been known since 1881—for the vegetation they have is well established, 
and Leffingwell! has shown how extremely slowly the plants spread over such 
exposed and barren islands. 
Martin point. The sandspit islands forming Martin point, about Long. 
148°W., have a character quite similar to Spy islands so far as origin and soil 
are concerned, but their vegetation is far better developed. They consist of 
sand dunes and gravel bars scarcely above sea level and rising a little higher in 
the middle where they enclose shallow lagoons, up to half a foot deep, lagoon 
ponds, and water holes which are almost dried up in the autumn. As on Spy 
islands, a great amount of driftwood is thrown up along the beach and helps 
in building up the islands. Except along the lagoons and ponds, the vegetation 
is rather scattered and occurs mostly in patches and tufts. At the end of July, 
1914, I observed and collected the following plants on the small sand dunes 
rising from the surrounding gravel plain, viz.: Elymus mollis, in large patches, 
Glycerta tenella, in pillows, Salix ovalifolia, Stellaria longipes var. Edwardsii, 
Cochlearia groenlandica, Sedum Rhodiola, Potentilla pulchella, Artemisia comata. 
Mertensia maritima was found on bare sand near the beach, mostly in 
colonies of many plants together. Here also was found a mushroom similar to 
Agaricus campestris in appearance. 
Plants typical of the gravel plains were Carex incurva, with its extensively 
creeping rhizoms, Sazifraga decipiens, and especially Halianthus peploides, the 
latter forming large, scattered pillows up to two feet in diameter and sharply 
set off from the surroundings. 
On mixed gravel and sand were Papaver nudicaule, Polemonium boreale, 
Primula borealis, Oxytropis nigrescens, Pedicularis capitata, and Silene acaulis, 
but none of these were present in great numbers. 
Both on the gravel and in moist, sandy places, as well as on the small “nigger 
heads” around the lagoons, Stellaria humifusa was common. Around the 
lagoons Carex reducta formed a kind of marsh, while mosses and Dupontia 
Fischeri filled the bottom of some of the dried-up lagoon ponds. 
Ales pi 171. 
