ARCTIC PLANTS NOT YET FOUND IN BRITAIN 



By Nicholas Polunin 



Gray Herbarium, Harvard University, U.S.A. 



In the rightly appreciative reviews that have so far been pubUshed of the welcome 

 new Flora of the British Isles (Clapham, Tutin and Warburg, 1952), there does not appear 

 to be any mention of the omission, even as addenda, of the two most important additions 

 to the known British flora that have been made in recent years. These were Koenigia 

 islandica L., a genus new to Britain, and Diapensia lapponica L., a family new to Britain; 

 both are now considered " undoubtedly native on remote hills in Scotland" (Lousley, 

 1952). Both discoveries stirred public interest far beyond the British scientific press; 

 that of Koenigia was announced in 1950 from material collected in 1934 (Burtt, 1950) 

 and that of Diapensia was made in 1951 (Blakelock, 1952). More detailed accounts of 

 the Koenigia (Raven, 1952) and of the Diapensia (Roger, 1952) in Scotland have now been 

 published, as have reports in The Times and elsewhere; the former plant has since been 

 refound also in neighbouring localities (Raven, 1952) and the latter is abundantly confirmed 

 (Roger, 1952). It has also been reported (Lousley, 1951; Ribbons, 1952) that Homogyne 

 alpina (L.) Cass, has been confirmed as occurring in the British Isles, although the elder 

 George Don's " reputed discovery " (cf. Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh, 3, 112-3, 

 1904) of it had latterly been taken with so little seriousness that the species is not even 

 mentioned in recent floras. Further additions are reported or reviewed by Lousley 

 (1953), some of which were actually made after the new flora was published last year; 

 the reason for the lack in that work of any mention of the others was evidently that it 

 was an excessively long time in the press. 



These discoveries, like several of other species, make one wonder again how many 

 more of these arctic, etc. plants, hitherto unsuspected as members of the native British 

 flora, may still remain to be detected on remote Scottish mountains and isles in habitats 

 that seem to fall within their normal range. It may be noted that most of these ' additions ' 

 are to a considerable extent ' open soil ' plants growing best in the virtual absence of 

 competition (Polunin 1939a, 1939b, 1941); and it may be suggested that other species, 

 often of similar ecological requirements, which might possibly repay closer search of 

 suitable habitats in these regions, may perhaps include (apart from some already recorded 

 without confirmation but including the two marked with an asterisk of which there are 

 old and very doubtful reports) : Equisetum scirpoides Michx., Botrychium boreale Milde, 

 *B. lanceolatum (S.G.Gmel.) Rupr., Sparganium hyperboreum Laest. ex Beurl., Agrostis 

 horealis Hartm., Phippsia algida (Solander) R.Br., Trisetum spicatum (L.) Richt., 

 Vahlodea atropurpurea ( Wahlenb.) Fries, Carex hrunnescens (Pers.) Poir., C. glareosa 

 Wahlenb., C. mackenziei Krecz., C. rufina Drej., Kobresia myosuroides (Vill.) Fiori & 

 Paol., Luzula confusa Lindeb., Salix glauca L. s.L, S. polaris Wahlenb., Arenaria sajanensis 

 Willd. ex Schlecht., Lychnis apetala L., Stellaria calycantha (Ledeb.) Bong., S. crassifolia 

 Ehrh., Ranunculus glacialis L., jR. hyperboreus Rottb., R. pygmaeus Wahlenb., Cardamine 

 bellidifolia L., Draba alpina L., D. nivalis Liljebl., Sedum annuum L., Saxifraga foliolosa 

 R.Br., Potentilla nivea L. s.L, *Rubus arcticus L. s.L, Astragalus frigidus (L.) A. Gray s.L, 

 A. norvegica Grauer, Viola biflora L., V. selkirkii Pursh ex Goldie, Epilobium davuricum 

 Fisch. s.L, E. hornemannii Reichenb., E. lactifloruin Hausskn., Cassiope hypnoides (L.) 

 D.Don, Pyrola grandiflora Radius, Androsace septcntrionalis L., Primula stricta Hornem., 



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