The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1945, Page 15

THE VEGETATION OF CENTRAL ICELAND
357
1930) H. M0lholm Hansen treats the highland vegetation in
more detail than had been done by earlier authors. Thus he attempts,
on the basis of earlier flora lists, to make out how many species grow in
each altitudinal zone, and to compute from the given material the
biological spectra of the different altitudinal zones. Owing to the
deficient investigation of the highland these computations cannot be
expected to be accurate, however, they are hardly far out. Molholm
Hansen himself investigated the vegetation of Arnarvatnsheiði in the
summer of 1925 and gives a synopsis of it (l.c. pp. 93-121). As far as I
know, this is the first systematic investigation of the vegetation of
any part of the highland, at any rate it is the first statistic investigation
made in Iceland. He describes the following formations of Arnarvatns-
heiði: melur, Betula nana-mó, the knolly mó, jaðar, mýri, flói, and
geiri, that is to say, the majority of the plant formations of the high-
land.
In “Naturens Verden” 1935 Johs. Humlum gives a brief
summary of the plant formations of the highland. He visited Jökuldals-
heiði and the regions around Hofsjökull and Hvítárvatn himself. In
such a brief summary there is no room for detailed comment or discus-
sion; but the whole paper supplies clear information about the subject-
matter treated in it without actually adding anything new.
In the book “Island” by Walter Iwan (Stuttgart 1935) the
author describes the vegetation of Fróðárdalur near Hvítárvatn; the
bottom of this valley occurs at an altitude of 450 m above sea-level.
According to Iwan’s view this is a “Musterbeispiel fiir die Oasen des
Hochlandes” (l.c. p. 45), which in my opinion is not a very fortunate
one, especially if the higher-lying oases are taken into consideration.
In a small paper Pálmi Hannesson has described the
“flá”, which will be dealt with below. In addition he gives flora lists
from different parts of the highland, which lists were used by Molholm
Hansen in his computations.
Further, a great many flora lists from the different parts of the
highland are found here and there in other papers and travelling re-
ports. In most of them no other information is given than that the
particular species has been found in that particular place. The following
are known to me: W. B i s i k e r’s travelling report, “Across Ice-
land”; it contains flora lists and some botanical observations from the
region around Kjalvegur. In his paper on Kerlingarfjöll (1912) the
German L. Wunder gives flora lists from Hveradalir (p. 22),
Hvítárvatn, and Hveravellir. Furthermore Friedrich Kiimel