120 CARL SKOTTSBERG, A BOTANICAL SURVEY OF THE FALKLAND ISLANDS. 



having once been clothed by tnssock grass, where there is none now, it is evident that it 

 must ha ve been very abundant. But there are many places where the heath comes 

 down the slope to a rocky shore, and where there is no trace at all of a vanished 

 tussock vegetation. And perhaps there ne ver was any, or but single individuals 

 close to the water. I have observed, on rocky and stony shores, traces of some 

 plants just above the tidal region. Only on precipitous cliffs has the tussock vege- 

 tation been left quite undisturbed, but here it never forms such a fine cov^er as on 

 level ground, but is split up into tongues and patches. Below I have tried to give 

 some examples of the different associations. 



20. Poa flabellata-associa,tion on a gentle slope, Westpoint Island, fenced 

 off and thus protected from destruction. (Pl. XIV.) 



Soc. Poa flabellata Sol. Carex trifida Sol., rare Alopecurus antarcticus. 



Carex trifida seems to accompany the tussock and has disappeared with it, 

 now being a rare plant in the Falklands. 



21. Poa flabellata-sissocisition on a steep cliff, Westpoint Island. Vegetation 

 along the upper edge of the rocks and on the narrow shelves. 



Cop. Poa flabellata Spårs. Liisula alopecurus Sol. Senecio Darwinii f. 



Veronica ellipticaimclvifiiQr?) Poa antarctka 



Bryophytes on moist earth: Bryiim rhizoblastum Card. n. sp., Pseudoleskea 

 calochroa, fuegiana; Chiloscyphus sp., Leioscyphus abditus, Marchantia cephaloscypha. 



22. Ancient Poa flabellata-asfiOGiation; now most of the tussock dead with 

 only the liuge pedestals left, except for a narrow, inaccessible strip close to the 

 water. Other litoral or heath-plants are spreading över the killed tussocks; Rabbit 

 Island, W. F. 



Shrubs : 



Spårs. -sol. Veronica elliptica. 



Dwarf shrubs, herbs and grasses: 



Cop. Luzula alopecurus Sol. Acana lucida Perezia recurvata 



Poa antarctica Bleclmum magellanicum Pcr»rffifa pumila 



Spårs. Calceolaria Fothcrgilln Nassauvia Gaudicliauän Poa flabellata. 



Oxalis enneaphijlla var. 



Ground stratum: 



Cop. Blechnum penna marina Spårs. Bolax gummifera 



Spårs. Gunnera magellanica Colohanthus crassifolius. 



I have never seen such large cushions of Colobanthus crassifolius as in this 

 place, especially where the dead tussocks had been converted into »drift-humus», 

 for some of tliem measured one metre across. 



