Page:Polar Exploration - Bruce - 1911.djvu/101

Rh, however barren, desolate, and wind-swept, where I have not found the Arctic poppy growing, stunted it may be, yet growing and even flowering; and, if there exist in the least degree slightly more favourable conditions, it will grow with great luxuriance and in great profusion. Similarly, on the coasts of Greenland and on the Arctic islands north of America wherever plant life can succeed the poppy is to be found. Next to the poppy, the purple saxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifolia) is probably the most hardy Arctic flowering plant, and in suitable places may grow in even greater profusion than the poppy. I have seen the Foreland Laichs of Prince Charles Foreland in July resembling an extensive Scottish moor in September, one blaze of purple for miles, but purple with this saxifrage instead of with heather. A yellow buttercup (Ranunculus nivalis) is another very common Arctic species growing almost anywhere, and very different in appearance according to what ground it is growing on, and to what extent it is protected from wind. Cerastium alpinum is also met with everywhere, great masses of white brightening the landscapes. Other flowering plants that every Arctic traveller is thoroughly familiar with are: scurvy-grass (Cochlearia officinalis), the sulphur-flowered buttercup (Ranunculus sulphureus), the little bladder campion (Silene