The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1942, Page 249

THE PTERIDOPHYTA AND SPERMATOPHYTA OF ICELAND
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lund, Isl. Fl., 1881, p. 47.—Stefánsson, Fl. ísl., ed. 1, 1901, p. 110.—Ibid.,
ed. 2, 1924, p. 124,—O. & Gr., 1934, p. 75.
Flora Dan. tab. 1462, and tab. 386 (a. glabra).
Icelandic: Melskriðnablóm. Danish : Sten-Gaasemad. English: Rock Cress.
Common in all parts, especially at a high level. It grows high up in the mountains
where it will hardly ever be absent even in the most barren fell-field.
The hairy form (f. hirta Koch) is the common form in Iceland, of fairly fre-
quent occurrence, also, is f. glabra Blytt, with ciliate petioles (hairs only on the
margins of the petioles) but otherwise without hairs; even quite glabrous specimens
may occur. With respect to the form of the leaves, there is a rather pronounced
variation.
Life-form: Ch.
On loose, gravelly soil, in rocky places, on moist sand and gravel, in Grimmia-heaths,
in lava-fields, fell-field, etc.
Flor. VI—VII; fr. mat. VII—VIII.
Max. height: 35 cm; average: 6 cm.
Geogr. area: Eur.: Fær.; E.S.I.; Novaya Zemlya; northern Europe, central Eur.
mts.
225. Cochlearia ojficinalis Linn., Sp. pl. ed. I (1753) p. 647.
K. & M., 1770, p. 209.—C. anglica L., C. danica L., and C. officinalis L.,
Babington, 1871, p. 294.—C. offic. L. and C. anglica L., Gronlund, Isl. Fl.,
1881, p. 43.—C. off. L. and varieties, Stefánsson, Fl. ísl., ed. 1, 1901, p.
106.—Ibid., ed. 2, 1924, p. 118,—O. & Gr., 1934, p. 72.
Flora Dan. tab. 135.
Icelandic: Skarfakál, Arfakál. Danish: Læge-Kokleare. English: Spoon-wort, Com-
mon Scurvy-Grass.
In several of the previous papers on the Icelandic Flora the genus Cochlearia
has been divided into three or even four different species, viz. C. officinalis L.,
C. anglica L., C. groenlandica L., and C. danica L.
O. Gelert has (cp. G. Andersson and H. Hesselman in Bihang till Kungl. Svenska
Vet. Akad. Handl. Bd. 26, Afd. III, no. 1 (1900) p. 34 et seq.) kept the arctic
Cochlearias together as a single species, comprising 4 different varieties of which at
least the following three are represented in the Icelandic flora:
1. var. groenlandica (L.) Gelert. Small plant, with prostrate or ascending stems.
Pods ovoid, mucronate; valves hardly reticulate, septum ovate.
2. var. oblongifolia (DC.) Gelert. Larger plant with decumbent or ascending stems,
globose or subglobose pods, somewhat compressed on both sides towards the
roundish ovate septum.
3. var. arctica (Schlechtend.) Gelert. More arctic plant, with oblong pods and
lanceolate septum; leaves narrow.
For many of the specimens collected, however, the description given above for
a certain variety does not fit, and there are obvious difficulties in maintaining
Gelert’s mode of division; altogether no satisfactory key to the arctic Cochlearias
has hitherto been found; culture experiments combined with cytological investiga-
tions might perhaps prove the means of solving the taxonomic problems here. More-
over, the Icelandic specimens at hand in H.H. are in most cases rather poorly col-
ected or preserved, and by far not sufficient for a definite conclusion.
Common in most parts in the coastal region.