The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1942, Page 354

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JOHS. GRONTVED
First recorded by König & Miiller, loc. cit., and entered in some of the older
lists. There are no specimens in evidence, and the records are evidently due to a
mistake.
Galium palustre Linn.
K. & M., 1770, p. 205.—Babington, 1871, p. 311.
König & Muller records this plant, loc. cit., as do the later authors; even Ba-
bington believes it to be common. There are, however, no specimens in evidence,
and it may be safer to exclude it from the Icelandic Flora.
373. Galium pumilum Murray, Prodr. stirp. Gotting. (1770) p. 44.
G. pusillum, Hooker in Mackenzie, 1811, p. 419.—G. sylvestre, Gliemann,
1824, p. 138.—G. sylv. Poll., Babington, 1871, p. 311.—G. saxatile var.
pusillum and var. sylvestre, Lindsay, 1861, p. 30.—G. sylvestre Poll., Gronl.,
Isl. Fl., 1881, p. 75.—Stefánsson, Fl. ísl., ed. 1, 1901, p. 186.—Ibid., ed. 2,
1924, p. 211.—O. & Gr., 1934, p. 131.1
Flora Dan. tab. 1866.
Icelandic: Hvítmaðra. Danish: Liden Snerre. English : Mountain Bedstraw.
Very variable as to the size, the form of the leaves, and the number of prickles
on stem and leaves. The following forms may be distinguished in the Icelandic
material:
f. hirtum Koch, with stems shortly hairy beneath.
f. obovatifolium, leaves obovate.
f. asperifolium, leaf-margin and midvein rough with backward directed prickles.
var. supinum Gaud. has numerous prostrate stems, with shorter internodes and
broader leaves than in the main form; the inflorescence also shorter.
This is one of the most common plants in Iceland, found nearly everywhere, in
all kinds of soil and plant formations from the coast up to the highest levels of
snowbare soil in Central Iceland.
Life-form: H.
In scrub, heaths, grassy slopes and herb-slopes, lava-fields, etc.
Flor. VI—VIII; fr. mat. VII—VIII.
Max. height: 25 cm; average: 8 cm.
Geogr. area: Eur.: E.S.I.; Norway from 65°43', Sweden, central Eur. to Spain
and the Balkan States.
Galium saxatile Linn.
Gliemann, 1824, p. 138.—Vahl, 1840, p. 372.—Babington, 1871, p. 311.
Recorded by Gliemann, loc. cit., and entered as certain by Vahl and Babington.
No specimens are in evidence; the plants in question must, no doubt, have been
forms of Galium pumilum.
374. Galium trifidum Linn., Sp. pl. ed. I (1753) p. 105.
Gliemann, 1824, p. 138.—Babington, 1871, p. 311.—Gronlund, 1874, p. 65.—
E. Rostrup, 1887, p. 179.—Stefánsson, Fl. ísl., ed. 1, 1901, p. 186.—Ibid.,
ed. 2, 1924, p. 210,—O. & Gr., 1934, p. 130.
Flora Dan. tab. 48.
1 Cited as G. sylvestre and G. Normanni by Molholm Hansen, in Studies on the
Vegetation of Iceland. 1930.