The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1949, Page 15

THE PLORA OF REYKJANES PENINSULA
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The Flora.
The Flora of Iceland is already so well known that it is difficult
to find some species new for the Country. But in saying this I do not
mean to imply that botanical investigations have reached their goal,
far from it! Regional research has been carried out in a few districts
only, vertical distribution of different species is little known. I hope
that this contribution to the regional and vertical distribution of vas-
cular plants of SW Iceland will soon be completed by local students
of the Icelandic flora.
In my list of vascular plants of Reykjanes Peninsula I have used
some material already published in old and modern literature (cf.
bibliography in Gröntved 1942) as e. g. S o 1 a n d e r, G r ö n 1 u n d,
Steenstrup et al. from HafnarfjörSur, Krísuvík, Grindavík or
Cape Reykjanes, i. e. along the usual tourist routes. The rest of the
district, especially the Central Highland and Bláfjöll, was hitherto
botanically unknown. I have intentionally omitted from literature
quotations localities such as e. g. Búrfell or Skálafell, because there are
many hills on Iceland named like this and I do not know in the
mdividual cases to which place the author refers. Grönlunds
locality “Kúadalur” (not to be found on the special map of R.nes) is
doubtless the valley to the SW of Undirhlíðar, running parallel to this
ridge.
In all the localities I visited, sea level in meters was noted. For
most species—even for the most “common” Icelandic species—several
localities are given from different parts of the district and from dif-
ferent heights above sea level. Modern investigations have shown that
the more extensive the area invesigated is, the less
1 s the number of species common to the whole area
and evenly distributed over it. The designation
"common” or similar without nearer designation
of localities should dissappear from modern phyto-
geographical publications.
The flora-list of Reykjanes Peninsula contains 2 56 species of
vascular plants.
According to their distribution in the area investigated they may
be grouped in the following manner:
A. Halophytic species: Atriplex glabriuscula, Cakile maritima,
Zostera marina, Puccinellia maritima, Ligusticum scoticum, Mer-
tensia maritima, Honckenya peploides.