Rit (Vísindafélag Íslendinga) - 01.06.1975, Page 49

Sphagnum occurs on the mounds. Analysis 7 is from Brunnavatn
in Kaldidalur, where the most notiœable species is C. Ljuigbyei.
The terrain is wet, level with little moss.
Analysis 8 is the single observation which I have from a flói
proper, and yet this sociation occurs in many parts of the country.
The observation was made on land which has been cultivated
through irrigation for quite a length of time. The analyses there-
fore does not show a natural sociation, hut rather one transitory
phase of the Eriophorum flói, which doubtless was there before
the irrigation was started. Instead of near predominance by E.
angustifolium, Carex Lyngbyei and C. nigra have become domi-
nants alongside it both in covering and physiognomy. Then some
dry ground plants have also t.aken root such as Festuca ruhra
and Agrostis tenuis, but alongside them are still the mire species
Menyanthes trifoliata, Comarum palustre and Caltha palustris, but
this terrain is in the main dry throughout the summer. This analysis
actually does not properly belong here, but I took it as a sample
of how the Eriophorum flói can change under altered conditions.
b. Carex Lyngbyei flói, Caricétum Lyngbyei
Compared to the Eriophorum flói the C. Lyngbyei flói extends
°ver an extremely small area of the total Icelandic flói territory.
Caricétum Lyngbyei distinguishes itself from Eriophorum in the
respect that E. angustifolium has in the main or altogether disap-
peared there, and when it occurs it is so small that it is neither
noticeable in physiognomy nor covering, despite some frequency.
This gives the C. Lyngbyei flói an unusual appearance unlike that
°f the others, so that viewed from a distance it emerges in the form
°f light yellow patches amid the hazel green colours of the Eri-
ophorum flói. The character species together with C. Lyngbyei are
rnostly the same as in the Eriophorum flói areas, however, shrub
plants are never character species here, and they in general are not
ttiuch in evidence except for Sahx glauca, which is significant in
some sociations of the highland. Calamagrostis neglecta is the most
common, followed hy Comarum palustre and Menyanthes trifoliata.
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