Rit (Vísindafélag Íslendinga) - 01.06.1939, Page 24

24
at least moist in the summer; there is little moss. This
meadow land is an old "Þakslétta” cultivated from the
peat growth. There is a comparatively large number of
species considering that this is cultivated ground, and the
manure which is most used, stable manure, probably ac-
counts in part for this. The characteristic plants are Poa
pratensis L., Festuca rubra L., Agrostis tenuis Sibith.,
Ranunculus acer L., Alect Rhinanthus crista-galli L. and
Leontodon autumnalis L., and Rumex acetosa L., is very
conspicous, also Cerastium cæspitosum Gilib. and Trifo-
lium repens L.; the sward is formed of the three first
named. The A and E 1 % are low, 8,0 and 2,4, but the life-
forms Ch, G and Th show very similar distribution, i.e-
11,9, 11,9, and 8,7. This one observation on cultivated
meadow land can obviously not be taken as definitive for
the vegetation of the cultivated meadow land in general
and it would have been preferable to have made further
observations on other meadows. Indeed in the beginning I
had no intention of touching on the cultivated land, but
when I began to consider the vegetation of the outer
islands I saw that a comparison with the vegetation of
the cultivated meadow land would be enlightening. I there-
fore publish this one observation on the vegetation of the
cultivated meadow land and feel it to be better than
nothing though it cannot be accounted sufficient.
On the whole the vegetation of the bird colonies and of
the dry meadow land included with them has definite
characteristics; firstly the number of species is small and
most of them come under E, 80—100 %. The vegetation is
therefore highly specialised with regard to species and
genus. On the other hand the vegetation seems less speci-
alised as regards life-forms because Ch, G and Th occur
about equally, and on the whole this vegetation indicates
good conditions of life and equal at all seasons. As regards
the cultivated meadow land it shows figures agreeing very
closely with those for the bird colonies, with, however, on
the whole a greater leaning to arctic types; and though