The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1945, Blaðsíða 45

THE VEGETATION OF CENTRAL ICELAND
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water, the ridges forming dams. The side of the ridges turned towards
the plain may be up to 0.75 m high. The analysis was taken on one
of these plains. This association is widely distributed both in Kýlingar
and on Eyjabakkar, where it extends over the greater part of the flói
areas. In other places it occurs in small patches only, where the soil
is wettest. I think it is the most widely distributed of all the associations
of the flói in the highland.
3. Eriophorum polystachyum—Calamagrostis neglecta-Ass.
rich in Salix glauca (Tab. II. A-B, 1-2).
This association may bc assumed to be a variant of Association 1,
in which Salix glauca occurs rather abundantly though without do-
minating physiognomically. Analysis 1 was carried out in Sauðárdalur,
analysis 2 on Eyjabakkar in the immediate vicinity of the analysis re-
corded in Tab. I, 6. The association is of rather rare occurrence, it is
found in drier places than the preceding one, chiefly on the outskirts
of the flói. The moss vegetation is poor, but the phanerogamous vegeta-
tion is fairly dense.
4. Eriophorum polystachyum—Carex rariflora—Salix glauca-Ass.
(Tab. II. A-B, 3-4).
This association was only observed on Eyjabakkar; I have not no-
ticed it in other places except perhaps in “flá” complexes in very small
patches. It is rather extensively distributed on Eyjabakkar near the river
branches and only separated from the latter by a narrow rim of fairly
dry land. The phanerogamous vegetation is not quite continuous, the
ground, which is very damp and covered with Sphagnum, forming
small knolls here and there. This is almost the only one of the associa-
tions of the flói in which Sphagnum is present in a noticeable quantity.
5. Carex rariflora—Ass. (Tab. II. A-B, 5-6, 11).
Analyses 5-6 were made at Kýlingar, analysis 11 at Blágil near
Anal. I, 12 and under similar circumstances. This association occurs
here and there in the alpine flói, but it never covers large areas, being
mostly found in small patches interspersed in the Eriophorum associa-
tions. Its ground vegetation is nearly always fairly dense, consisting
mainly of Amblystegium, which is not commonly the case in the alpine