The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1945, Page 138

480
STEINDÓR STEINDÓRSSON
that the ice may melt away later in the summer, but I do not think
it probable, since the night frost sets in early in the highland, and
after it has set in, hardly any appreciable thaw 'of the winter ice will
take place. I suppose, therefore, that Hannesson’s and N i e 1 s e n’s
contention is correct, though there may be exceptions in the hottest
summers.
The flá has been described by several authors. The first scientist
to give a description of it was Sveinn Pálsson, who says (trans-
lated from the Danish) : “the so called flár are morasses covered with
numerous sedges (Carex) but differing from other bogs in that here
and there, often close to each other, some small knolls of different
shape rise above the water, quite level, dry and windswept above,
though without stones, but their sides are perpendicular and full of
fissures. The soil in them seems to resemble peat soil, but is somewhat
looser and full cf sand. On these knolls there is often an abundance of
alpine plants, Silence acaulis, Thalictrum alpinum, Alchemilla alp (ina),
Potentillae, Cerastia, Hieracia, and Lichenes isl. niveus, rangifer, and
others” (Journ. I, p. 239). The author who has written most about
the flá is T h o r o d d s e n. Descriptions are found in several of his
papers, thus in Ferðabók III, p. 286, IV, p. 99, Lýsing II, p. 411,
1914, pp. 263-264. But all these descriptions mainly deal with thc
shape and to some extent the formation of the rústs. Something
similar applies to N i e 1 s e n’s (1933, pp. 242-243) and H a n n e s-
s o n’s (p. 241) remarks, which will be quoted below. Stefánsson
(1902, p. 34), however, is the only author since Sveinn Pálsson
who describes thc flá vegetation. His description of the flá of Eystri
Pollar runs as follows (translated from the Danish) : “Around the
lakes and the numerous small swamps in the neighbourhood the
Cyperaceae dominate entirely, especially the beautiful and vigorous
Carex rostrata, or Eriophorum polystachyum. The less damp areas,
however, are covered either by a closed Grimmia carpet interwoven
by different heath plants, e. g. Empetrum, Salix lanata, S. glauca, and
S. herbacea, Cassiope hypnoides, Thalictrum alpinum, Cerastium al-
pinum, and some other species, or of dense lichen cushions, a kind of
lichen heath. On top of thc peculiar domed elevations called “dys”
or “haugar” ...... Gyrophora hyperborea is dominant in connection
with Alectoria ochroleuca, forming a light-grey carpet. On the level
field, howcver, Cetraria islandica prcponderates, and by its dark colour
ccntrasts strongly with the Gyrophora growths.” I quote this description
in its entirety because it is the fullest so far given, and because the flá