The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1942, Side 216
214
JOHS. GRONTVED
sylvania. S. Am.: (Chile).-—Greenl.: W. 60°—62°.—Eur.: Fær.; E.S.I. ; throughout
Europe; Novaya Zemlya. Caucasus,—Asia: Northern Asia, southward to Asia Minor,
Trans-Caspia and Himalaya. Formosa.—S. Africa.
175. Rumex Acetosella Linn., Sp. pl. ed. I (1753) p. 338.
K. & M., 1770, p. 206.—Babington, 1871, p. 325.—Gronlund, Isl. Fl., 1881,
p. 85.—Stefánsson, Fl. 1*1., ed. 1, 1901, p. 78.—Ibid., ed. 2, 1924, p. 88,—
O. & Gr., 1934, p. 55.
Flora Dan. tab. 1161.
Icelandic: Hundasúra. Danish : Rodknæ. English : Sheep’s Sorrel.
Common in N., S. and S.W. Found in several places in N.W. ; rather rare in
E. and S.E. Not recorded from the central parts.
Life-form : H(and G).
In gravelly soil, fell-field, along roads, mostly in dry soil.
Flor. VI—VII; fr. mat. VII—VIII.
Max. height: 25 cm; average: 14 cm.
Geogr. area: Am.: Labrador to Alaska, southward to California and Florida.—
S. Am.—Greenl.: W. 60°—72°48\ E. 60°—74°30'.—Eur.: Fær.; E.S.I.; Novaya
Zcmlya ; from Kola and Kolguiv southward to the Mediterranean. Crimea, Caucasus.
—Asia: From about 64° lat. N., southward to Irkutsk, Kamchatka ; northern China
and Honshu, Himalaya.—N. and S. Africa.—Australia : (naturalized).
Rumex acutus [?— R. crisþus X R■ obtusifolius], K. & M., 1770, p. 206.—Ba-
bington, 1871, p. 324.
Recorded by several of the older Icelandic botanists (cp. Babington, loc. cit.).
Most probably the plant referred to is R. domesticus.
Rumex arifolius All. (/?. montanus Desf.).
Abromeit, 1905, p. 125.
This plant is recorded by Abromeit, loc. cit., from Fáskrúðsfjörður, E., but no
further information is given as to its occurrence in Iceland, and it is rather unlikely
that this alpine, south European species should occur in Iceland.
Rumex conglomeratus Murr.
Babington (1871, p. 324) places R. acutus, cited by König & Miiller and Gliemann,
to R. conglomeratus. The last-named species is, however, not found in Iceland. The
plants in question are evidently R. domesticus.
Rumex crisþus Linn.
Benguercl, 1861, p. 449.—Babington, 1871, p. 324.—Bennet, 1886, p. 71.
This species is recorded in some of the older lists, but it is most likely that the
spccimcns concerned were R. domesticus; no specimens are in cvidence to corroboratc
the rccords, but in 1934 I myself found R. crisþus by the hot springs at Reykir near
Álafoss, S.W.—About 35 specimens were growing here, just in flowcr on thc 22nd
of July, ncar an artcsian well. No doubt thcsc speciinens were the result of a recent
introduction. The plants were thriving exceedingly well, some of thc specimens being
up to 75 cm high ; they would, no doubt, produce ripc fruits and be able to hold
their ground in this locality.
V’oung specimens of Rurnex found by mc near Bessastaðir, in July 1934, and
provisionally determincd as R. crisþus, proved to be R. domesticus.