The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1942, Blaðsíða 237

THE PTERIDOPHYTA AND SPERMATOPHYTA OF ICELAND
235
p. 51.—Stefánsson, Fl. Isl., ed. 1, 1901, p. 95,—Ibid., ed. 2, 1924, p. 107.—
O. & Gr., 1934, p. 67.
Flora Dan. tab. 2415.
Icelandic: Sóley, Brennisóley. Danish: Bidende Ranunkel. English: Buttercup,
Crow-foot, Upright Crow-foot.
In Iceland this species is exceedingly variable showing i. a. great differences be-
tween plants from the lowland and plants growing in the hills. A series of forms
or subspecies might be set up according to stature and other manifest characters.
One of the most pregnant forms occurs in the hills; it is a low plant, about 3—6 cm
high; stem simple, often nearly obsolete, with basal leaves only. The flower is usually
large, up to 3 cm in diameter. See fig. 90.—As far as can be seen it is this form
which has been described under the name R. Islandicus n. sp. in Davis, K.C., Native
and cultivated Ranunculi of North America and segregated Genera. Minn. Bot.
Studies. 1900, p. 472—473. The specimens described have been collected at Seyðis-
fjörður in E. Icel. by Miss Elizabeth Taylor.
Common in all parts, in the lowland as well as the central highland.
Life-form : H.
In meadows and cultivated areas, home-fields, heaths, copses, on herb-slopes, gravelly
soil, fell-field, etc.
Flor. VI—VIII; fr. mat. VII—VIII.
Max. height: 75 cm ; average : 15 cm.
Geogr. area: Am.: N. Am. (introduced from Eur., now naturalized).—Greenl.:
60°—66°55'. E. 65°—65°53'.—Eur. : Fær.; E.S.I.; Novaya Zemlya; throughout
Europe.—Northern Asia, southward to China, Japan.—Afr.: N. Afr., Abyssinia,
Cape Colony.
208. Ranunculus auricomus Linn., Sp. pl. ed. I (1753) p. 551.
G. Bárðarson, 1929, p. 49.—O. & Gr., 1934, p. 67.
Flora Dan. tab. 665.
Icelandic : Sifjarsóley. Danish : Nyrebladet Ranunkel. English : Goldilocks.
This species was first recorded by Guðm. G. Bárðarson, loc. cit., from Torfnafjall
(400—500 m s. m.) near Hraun in Fljót, N. (coll. E. B. Pálsson, 1928). Later on
in 1933 it was also found at Kálfafellstaðir (c. 300 m s. m.) in Suðursveit, S. (coll.
B.G.J.), and E. Hadac records it in mscr. from Nes in Hornafjörður. It seems to
be the common West European form of this species and to be somewhat different
from the specimens collected in E. Greenland.
Life-form : H.
On dry gravelly soil.
Flor. VII; fr. mat. VIII.
Max. height: 22 cm ; average : 15 cm.
Geogr. area: Greenl.: (var.) E. 68°44'—73°10'.—Eur. : E.S.I.; from northern-
most Scandinavia to S. Eur., Novaya Zemlya, Spitsbergen. Caucasus, Ural.—Asia:
Siberia.
209. Ranunculus glacialis Linn., Sp. pl. ed. I (1753) p. 553.
K. & M., 1770, p. 208.—Babington, 1871, p. 291.—Gronlund, Isl. Fl., 1881,
p. 50—51.—Stefánsson, Fl. Isl., ed. 1, 1901, p. 97.—Ibid., ed. 2, 1924, p. 109.