KUNGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR. BAND 50. N:0 3- 103 



wetter just as in other parts of the world, with the topographical conditions, the 

 exposiire against prevailing winds etc, 



I have described a number of associations below; ihey are the most striking 

 ones. Between them are transitions, and there are different facies of them, some of 

 which I have mentioned. I beheve that I have seen enough of the vegetation to 

 give a general idea of what the associations are Hke, but I want to emphasize, that 

 my stiidy is not at all a detailed one. 



From any sufficiently elevated hill in East or West Falklands one may survey 

 the complete set of associations described below, for they at once betray themselves 

 by their different colours. The dominating colour is yellow or yellowish green; 

 it is the Cor/afZerta-association. Even throughout the simnner it never assumes a 

 fresh green colour for this grass is a »tunicate grass» and the few green leaves are 

 quite hidden in the great mäss of dead ones. Brown patches of variable size and 

 irregular outlines contrast with the »meadow»; they are formed by the Empetrum- 

 heath. Grey accnmulations of blocks often form a cap on the hills and a network 

 on the slopes, and eventually may be found covering the bottom of valleys; they are 

 stoneruns, where on more fine-grained material Cortaderia or Empetrum or both may 

 form irregular patches. Such places have some features in common with the weathered 

 quartzite-ridges, where Blechnum magellanicum forms a distinct association together 

 with Empetrum, visible through its dark brownish green colour; the most curious of 

 the quartzite-dwellers is Bolax. 



In the moist parts of the heath we find patches of a vivid green colour, the 

 Astelia-iissoGiation, wellknown to every traveller in the camp as being difficult to 

 cross on horseback. The 3^ellowish brown rush-like Marsippospermuyn often occurs 

 together with it, but is also found in the driest Empetrwn-ma.t, so for example in 

 stoneruns. Low-moor is repesented bj^ the Bostkovia-associsition, sometimes with 

 Scirpus melanostachys and nearly always with Sphagna; af ter periods of heavy rainfall 

 clear spaces of water will appear. Rosthovia is easily recognized from its dark brown, 

 nearly blackish colour. In sheltered, grassy depressions, especially along the brooks, 

 a low, greyish brushwood of Chiliotrichum, rarely reaching a man's height, appears. 



The Cortaderia-associ.atioii. (Pl. V: 2, VI: 1.) 



This is certainly one of the most important types of vegetation in the islands. 

 It is developed on all non-svampy ground, especially where the subsoil is composed of 

 fine-grained material. Cortaderia grows in tussocks of hemisphserical shape, each, 

 after the fashion of Poa flabellata, formed by one individual; the height generally 

 does not exceed 3 to 4 dm. It gives rise to a kind of peat. 



The most beautiful Cortade7'ia-mesido\v is found on the level or gently undulating 

 plains of Lafonia, from where the following examples are taken. 



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