THE ARCTIC FLORA. 



municated it to me, with a request that I would 

 give a figure and description of it to the world. 

 In so doing, I have, at the same time, conferred 

 upon this delicate arctic stranger, the name of its 

 finder ; — a name, that I trust will be continued by 

 future botanists, as a reward for that love of science 

 and general observation, which enabled Mr Jame- 

 son to add to the already extensive genus Poten- 

 tilla, another and so beautiful a species. It would 

 be well, if other individuals, possessing similar op- 

 portunities, were actuated by an equally praiseworthy 

 curiosity, to explore the half-untrodden shores of 

 Greenland and Spitzbergen. 



Wahlenberg, by his Flora Lapponica, has con- 

 tributed more than any other individual, to illus- 

 trate the Arctic Flora; and his work deservedly 

 ranks among the first of its class. But there is a 

 great mass of information still to be obtained, from 

 the more inaccessible parts of the arctic circle, which 

 becomes interesting, in proportion to the difficulty 

 of procuring it. Were this subject better understood, 

 the Physiology of Botany would receive a consider- 

 able addition of interest. We should, then, be en- 

 abled to show, in a more general manner, the change 

 of habit in such plants as are common to many de- 

 grees of latitude, — to illustrate the geographical dis- 

 tribution of vegetation, and to trace in a more beau- 

 tiful point of view, the gradual descent of many 

 plants from the mountains to the plains, as they ap- 

 proach the pole ; and the effects of climate upon 



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