Notes on the Alpine Flora of the St. Elias Mountains

Abstract

Botanical exploration along the continental slope of the northern St. Elias Mountains has revealed several floristic novelties. My 1965 collection from a nunatak in the Kaskawulsh Glacier (60°43'N, 139°19'W) was examined by Dr. Eric Hultén, Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, and he has reported and mapped this new locality for Lewisia pygmaea (Gray) Robins., Arabis lemmonii Wats., and A. lyallii Wats., far north of their previously known range. Neilson collected nearby and also found interesting taxa, in particular the only North American population of the Eurasian species Artemisia rupestris L. Work has continued during subsequent summers (1966-1969) east from the nunatak along the Kaskawulsh Glacier-Slims River drainage, north to the vicinity of the Steele Glacier, and into the northernmost portion of the St. Elias Mountains on the south side of the upper White River valley. [These] ... notes are offered for those botanists with an interest in the floristics of northern regions.