Rit (Vísindafélag Íslendinga) - 01.06.1975, Side 108

throughout a C. rostrata flói and other C. Bigelowii sociations.
Analysis 12 is from a hollow on the ridge itself. There the ground
is coarse patterned and slopes only slightly. Analysis 8 is from the
slopes of Langidalur. There the ground has a steep gradient and
is rather dry. In all the analyses C. Bigelowii is dominant to such
a great extent that it occurred to me to identify the sociation in
terms of that species alone. It approximates C. Bigelowii heath,
both with respect to environment and vegetation.
a. 4. Scirpus mire Scirpétum cæspitosi
The Scirpus-mire is one of the main divisions of the mýri (slop-
ing mire). But whereas the C. nigra mire and the Equisetum palus-
tre mire are typical lowland formations, and the C. Bigelowii mire
is almost exclusively confined to the highland regions, the Scirpus
mire seems to be limited to coastal districts, primarily areas ex-
posed to the sea-breeze and characterised by thick snow-cover dur-
ing the winter. It occurs only rarely, however, in the southern
part of the country. It is widely distributed on Snæfellsnes and in
Vestfirðir. In Vestfirðir, however, it is unmistakably more widely
distributed in regions with a seaward exposure. This is most notice-
able in ísafjarðardjúp where it is most widely distributed along
the coastal stretches of Snæfjallaströnd and Jökulfirðir. In Stranda-
sýsla it achieves significant distribution as far south as Steingríms-
fjörður, but from there on it becomes less frequent. In fact, it may
be said that the Scirpus mire is characteristic of mire formations
in Vestfirðir. In the northem part of the country it is widely dis-
tributed in the coastal districts of Húnaflói and on the peninsulas
of Vatnsnes and Skagi, but in the main part of this region it also
occurs in areas somewhat removed from the coast, despite relative-
ly light snow-cover, but it should be kept in mind that Húnaflói
is very exposed to the sea. On the peninsula between Skagafjörður
and Eyjafjörður the Scirpus mire is the prevalent mire type in
coastal districts; also in the Fljót area and as far as Ólafsfjörður.
On the Skagafjörður side it occurs as far as Sléttuhlíð and even
farther, but in Eyjafjörður it becomes inconspicuous to the south
of Arskógsströnd. It occurs widely in Firðir on the east coast of
Eyjafjörður. Similarly, it tended to occur towards the opening of
108