The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1928, Page 24

The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1928, Page 24
348 JOHS. BOYE PETEKSEN On Heimaey (Vestmannaeyjar) (404), on some woodwork near the shore, I found a layer of green algæ which proved to be made up of Pseudendoclonium submarinum. In the woods, of which I have visited those at Egilstaðir (22,23), Hallormstaðir (6Ga), Háls (155, 156, 157, 158, 159), and Norðtunga (335), the bark on the trunks and branches of the birches as a rule proved quite naked and without visible algal vegetation, occasionally with a few lichens. In the samples which I collected in places where I found something that might resemble algæ, none were as a rule found; sometimes I found an imperfectly developed lichen thallus or some few algal cells impossible to determine. In Denmark all woodwork as well as the bark of trees is as a rule covered with a dense layer either of algæ or lichens, and I have previously described in more detail (1915, p. 304 f.) where the one and the other sort of these growths are to be found. However, even i Denmark naked woodwork and naked tree trunks are found in certain places, particularly in very exposed localities. This will perhaps explain the scanty development of this algal community in Iceland. As regards the prevailing winds in that country we find the following statement in Den islandske Lods (The Icelandic Pilot) for 1927, 5th ed. p. 27: »As a rule the wind in Iceland blows with a moderate to strong breeze and many storms occur, thus at Stykkisholmr storms average 50 days annually, and are most frequent in the winter when a storm will occur on an average every fifth day, while in summer storms occur abt. every tenth day .... Storms in Iceland present special dangers because they often spring up with great suddenness. Thus it is no uncommon occurrence that a storm reaches its full force in less than an hour, but on the other liand the wind may drop again with equal suddenness. The quick changes in the force of the wind are not only due to the fact that the centres of the cy- clones pass very close by Iceland, but many of the storms that appear suddenly are local fjord winds which may in places be very violent. As a rule they are then gusty and foehn-like in character, that is to say, they are accompanied by a coinparatively liigh tem- perature and only carry a slight degree of moisture . . . Altogether, in the case of the storms, too, local conditions make their influence felt along the coasts of lceland«. It must furthermore be borne in mind that, since there are practically no trees in the island, the wind will be able to sweep
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The Botany of Iceland

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