The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1942, Blaðsíða 148
146
JOHS. GRONTVED
Common in the lowlands; in the central highland it may now and then be found
around the shepherds’ cots, along bridlepaths, etc.
Life-form: Th.
Around inhabited places, on cultivated soil, in home-fields, gardens, in waste places;
on sandy soil at the sea-shore; at hot springs, etc.
Flor. VI—VIII ; fr. mat. VII—VIII.
Max. height: 25 cm ; average : 15 cm.
Geogr. area: Am.: North Am. (naturalized).— S. Am. : Tierra del Fuego.—Greenl.:
W. 60°—62° (acclimatized). E. 60°30' and 65°37' (introduced).—Eur.: Fær.;
E.S.I.; throughout Europe.—Asia : Subarctic and temperate regions. Kamchatka.—
Africa.
Poa Balfourii Parn.
Babington, 1848, p. 19.—Id., 1871, p. 343.—Gronlund, Isl. Fl., 1881, p. 132.
Recorded by Babington, 1848 and 1871, loc. cit., and by Gronlund, loc. cit.,
should be placed under Poa glauca.
Poa compressa Linn.
K. & M., 1770, p. 204,—Babington, 1871, p. 343.
Recorded by König & Muller, loc. cit., as also by most of the older authors.
It is very unlikely that this species should occur in Iceland, and it may be safely
excluded from the flora.
77. Poa flexuosa Sm., Fl. brit. (1800) p. 101.
(J. A. Nannfeldt, Taxonomical and plant-geographical studies in
the Poa laxa group. Symb. Bot. Upsal. 5. 1935).
Poa flexuosa, Gliemann, 1824, p. 137.—Vahl, 1840, p. 375.—P. laxa, Ibid.,
p. 375.—P. laxa Haenke, Babington, 1871, p. 343.—Gronlund, Isl. Fl., 1881,
p. 130.—Stefánsson, Fl. tsl., ed. 1, 1901, p. 54.—Ibid., ed. 2, 1924, p. 61.—
C.H.O., Fl. arct, 1902, p. 123.-—O. & Gr., 1934, p. 25.—H. Jónsson, 1909,
p. 32.—Stcindórsson, 1937a, p. 36.—Idem, 1937c, p. 99.
Icon.: J. Nannfeldt, loc. cit., Pl. I. (Fl. Dan. tab. 2342).
Icelandic: Lotsveifgras.
The Icclandic specimens hitherto referred to the alpine and south European
P. laxa Hacnke have recently, by J. Nannfeldt, loc. cit., been identified with the
Scotch and Scandinavian species P. flexuosa Smith. It has furthermore proved to
bc morc frcquent in Iceland than was formerly supposed. It is cspecially to be met
with near the borders of thc melting snow at the margin of the glaciers, in places
whcre scarcely any other vcgetation will be found. Its distribution in Scandinavia is
shown in Nannfeldt, loc. cit., p. 56.
As will be sccn from fig. 49, it is now found in the tracts ncar Eyjafjörður, N.,
in some placcs ncar the castcrn and northeastern parts of Vatnajökull, and in some
othcr more isolated localitics in the country.
H. Jónsson, loc. cit., found it in 1901 growing abundantly in “skriðum” (on
slopes) at Hvannadalur, S., at a level of about 300 m s. m.
Lifc-form: H.
On barc soil near the margin of the glaciers.