Abstract
HOW the present flora of Greenland originated, is a question of great interest to British botanists and geologists, for the answer will probably help to solve the difficult problem, What was the origin of the recent flora of Britain? The flora of Greenland is so poor in species and has been so well studied that its relationship to the floras of Europe and America ought not to admit of much debate; yet we find that an active discussion is now going on among Scandinavian botanists as to its eastern or western affinities. Sir J. D. Hooker, in his “Outlines of the Distribution of Arctic Plants,”1 made a careful analysis of the species found in Greenland, and came to the conclusion that the relationship was more European than American, and this view seems to have been generally adopted by botanists. In a recent official report, contained in the valuable series of memoirs published by the Commission for the Exploration of Greenland,2 Prof. E. Warming, however, has tried to show that the flora is American; and as this author has had access to fuller materials than were formerly available, his opinion will carry considerable weight. Prof. A. G. Nathorst, a botanist especially competent to speak on questions relating to the botany of the Arctic regions and on the relation of the recent Arctic flora to the Glacial epoch, objects altogether to Prof. Warming's conclusions, and, although dealing with the same materials, maintains the accuracy of the generally accepted view as to the European relationship of the vegetation.3 He also critically examines the flora in a way that has never been done before, and points to its dependence on bygone conditions. To certain of Prof. Nathorst's observations and conclusions I should like to draw attention.
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References
Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. xxiii., pp. 251–348 (1861); partly reprinted (with additions) in the "Manual of the Natural Historyof Greenland," &c. (1875).
"Om Grønlands Vegetation: Meddelser om Grønland," Part 12 (1888).
Engler 's botanischen Jahrbüch, 1891, p. 183.
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REID, C. The Origin of the Flora of Greenland. Nature 44, 299–300 (1891). https://doi.org/10.1038/044299a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/044299a0