The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1942, Page 15
THE PTERIDOPHYTA AND SPERMATOPHYTA OF ICELAND
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was Stefán Stefánsson, then master in the Middle School in Möðru-
vellir, N. Iceland.
In the years from 1888 to 1900 Stefánsson made journeys throughout
Iceland in order to collect plants. He also published three short papers
on the Icelandic Flora: “Fra Islands Væxtrige”. I—III, in Vid. Medd.
fra den naturhist. Forening i Kjobenhavn. 1890, 1894 and 1896. In
1901 Stefánsson then published his “Flóra íslands”. This book is written
in Icelandic, a fact which hás been a great obstacle to its being widely
known outside Iceland. This first edition contains in all 359 species, of
which 12 are Vascular Cryptogams. In 1924, shortly after the death
of Stefánsson, the second edition of his flora was published by his son
Valtýr Stefánsson. In this edition a total of 411 species of plants are
described, 26 of which are Vascular Cryptogams. The rather conspicuous
increase in the number of Phanerogams is due to the inclusion of a
series of new species of Hieracia, worked out by Dr. H. Dahlstedt,
Stockholm.
What has been done in the course of these last forty years or so
as regards the floristic investigation of Iceland deserves special mention.
Particularly noteworthy is the large amount of work laid down in the
publications entitled THE BOTANY OF ICELAND which were
started on the initiative of Prof. Eug. Warming and Prof. L. Kolderup
Rosenvinge. The works previously published have especially dealt with
the Cryptogams, but one volume, published by Dr. Molholm Hansen,
is a statistical and plant-geographical treatise on the Icelandic Vascular
Plants.
In 1934 was published “The Flora of Iceland and the Færoes” by
C. H. Ostenfeld and Johs. Gröntved. In the preparation of this work
special use was made of the Herbarium material preserved in the
Botanical Museum in Copenhagen, 406 indigenous and naturalized
phanerogams being described, and 30 vascular cryptogams.
Several contributions to the Flora of Iceland have been published
in the last twenty years by Ingimar Óskarsson, Steindór Steindórsson
and others, and many collectors, both foreign and Icelandic have con-
tributed to the collections kept in the Botanical Museum in Copen-
hagen, and so to our knowledge of the Icelandic vegetation. Still there
are many tracts, especially in the interior of the country, the Flora of
which is very little known, and it is to be hoped that in the future too
opportunities will be afforded for an investigation of these.