Rit Landbúnaðardeildar : B-flokkur - 01.05.1947, Blaðsíða 21

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russeolum, Carex adelostoma, Luzula sudetica, Sagina subulata, Sagina
caespitosa, Papauer radicatum (three suhspecies), Saxifraga Cotgledon,
Alchemilla faeroeensis, Anthyllis Vulneraria, Oxalis Acetosella, Viola
epipsila, Cornus suecica, Diapensia lapponica, Pyrola rotundifolia, Phyllo-
doce coerulea, Primula stricta, Ajuga pyramidalis, Melampyrum silva-
ticum, Campanula uniflora, Crejns paludosa and Knautia arvensis. Accord-
ing to the preliminary maps made of the known distribution of the
Icelandic flora elements more than 100 species will possibly be found to
belong to this group of distribution, indicating a survival during the
glaciation in one or more places.
A rather large part of the hibernating species have retained their
abilities to form new ecotypes when the glaciation ended. Many of them
were able to disperse so rapidly by means of natural agents that they
could conquer at least a 500 km long area during 10 000 or 15 000
years. All species of that abilitv are at present found on the whole island,
although they may have survived in one place only. Phytogeographical
studies on their distribution outside Iceland as well as taxonomical and
cytogenetical comparisons of Icelandic and foreign material will in many
cases reveal possibilities to determine whether or not the Icelandic
material is different from, e.g. the Scandinavian and Greenland types of
the same species. To this category most of the common species of Iceland
belong, and on the basis of taxonomical or phytogeographical research
already made, a large number of species of different genera may be
regarded as certain representatives of this group of survivors. The
species Carex norvegica (Kalf.la, 1944), Juncus bulbosus (Böcher, 1938),
Betula callosa and B. tortuosa (Lindquist, 1945) Rumex Acetosa ssp.
arifolius (Löve, 1944), Arenaria norvegica (Gelting, 1934; Nordhagen,
1935), Viscaria alpina (Lid and Zachau, 1928), Sedum Rosea (Lid and
Zachau, 1928), Alchemilla alpina (Lid and Zachau, 1928), Ranunculus
glacialis (Böcher, 1938), and fíalium pumilum ssp. islandicum (Sterner,
1944) may serve as typical examples of this group of Icelandic hibernating
species of higher plants.
The suggestion that a number of plant species have survived the Ice
Age in Iceland is not only a phytogeographical hypothesis. It might be
regarded as a rather well founded theory on the basis of known phyto-
geographical data and, especially, in the light of the present knowledge
of the paleobotany of the Icelandic interglacials. Only few investigators
have as yet published the results of studies on interglacial layers, but
among material from the last interglacial from the mountain Briml-
árhöfði in West-Iceland (Áskelsson, 1938), among material from
the Víðidalur in North-Iceland (Líndal, 1935) and in the Iayers at Elliða-