The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1914, Page 156

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THORODDSEN
coppices, as independent í'ormations, have but a slight distribution
in Iceland. As stated above, Salix lanata and S. glauca are distri-
buted over extensive sandy areas, and occur there, together with
some other plants, as dominants; in other places they occur on dry?
flat, clayey tracts, as scattered shrubs of low growth (20—60 cm.)
with an undergrowth of heather, Elyna Bellardi, various species of
grasses, etc. It is chiefly Salix phylicifolia which forms coppices
Fíg. 35. Knolly moor of Iietula nana intermixed with Salix lanata and Salix phylicifolia
Ground vegetation: Empetrum, Arctostaphylus uva ursi, Anthoxanthum odoratum ancl
Polygonum viviparum. (Pliot. A. Hesselbo.)
(e. g. near Skaftafell, Fnjóskadalur, Hrafnkelsdalur, Kaldalón and
Mývatn) in association with Salix lanata and Betnla odorata and
with a rich ground-vegetation of highly diverse plants common on
“herb-flats.” Now and then Salix phglicifolia forms the undergrowth
of birch coppices, as for instance, in Bæjarstadaskogur near 0ræfi;
the willows here have an average height of 2 metres; the highest
individuals are 3 metres in height, but the stems are only 18—24 cm.
in circumference. Salix phylicifolia (often together with Satix lanata,
which may attain a height of 1—F/2 metres) is often found inter-
spersed in birch coppices, in many places in different districts. In
several places near Myvatn Salix phylicifolia forrns coppices, among
otlier places in Sluttnes, wliere a stem which I measured in 1882,