The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1945, Side 13

THE VEGETATION OF CENTRAL ICELAND
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the Danish) (l.c. p. 133). He is fully aware of the paucity of species
in the mountains and of the different vegetation in the different
habitats according to the nature of the latter, especially as regards
moisture, exposure, and erosion phenomena. Grönlund records some
flora lists from the highland and describes the vegetation of some
desolate fell-field and sandy areas, for instance Stóri sandur and
Grímstungnaheiði.
The next botanist who studied the highland vegetation was
Stefán Stefánsson, who in this as well as in other respects
laid the foundation of the knowledge later acquired of the Icelandic
flora and vegetation. However, although Stefánsson visited the greater
part of Iceland in the years 1888-1900, he made only one regular trip
to the interior of the country, namely in the summer of 1893 when he
travelled across the highland from Eyjafjörður southward to the region
of Hreppar by the routes Vatnahjallavegur and Sprengisandsvegur,
though without making any long stays. The botanical observations from
this journey were published by Stefánsson in a brief but little noticed
paper in Daniel Bruun’s description of Sprengisandur and surroundings
(Geogr. Tidsskr. XVI, Copenhagen 1902). Stefánsson gives here a
particularly good characterisation of the vegetation of the area. He
describes the formations melur (gravelly flat), highland moor, mossy
swamp, Empetrum heath, Elyna heath, and the “flá”. He further men-
tions the particularly luxuriant oasis around the hot springs near Lauga-
fell and the luxuriant slopes covered with Salix phylicifolia scrub and
Archangelica near Amarfell. The description of these formations is very
clear and characteristic. In 1895 Stefánsson had published a paper
entitled “Om Vatnsdalens Vegetation”. It contains the first attempts
at a description and definition of the plant communities of Iceland.
He gives a brief account of the vegetation of the valley and the sur-
rounding mountain sides and of the vertical distribution of the most
important formations. Further, he describes the vegetation on the
plateau of Vatnsdalsháls and Grímstungnaheiði, thus three highland
formations, “mýr”, “melar”, and “Lyngmo” vegetation as well as
several variants and transitional forms. Of special plant communities
I would point out here the Grimmia heath, the Eriophorum bog, and
the Carex rostrata bog, all of which will be dealt with in detail in the
present paper.
Next the geologist Th. Thoroddsen deserves mention. He
travelled across the greater part of the central highland of Iceland in
the years 1881-1898. Although his journeys had for their main purpose