A vast collaborative effort, The Botany of Iceland is recognised as one of the cornerstones of Icelandic natural history. Released in five volumes between 1912 and 1949, it remains a primary reference for anyone interested in the island’s vegetation, from the lowliest moss to the rarest flowering plant.
A scientific bridge across the North Atlantic
The impetus for The Botany of Iceland began shortly after the completion of a similar project on the Faroe Islands in 1908. Danish botanists Eugenius Warming and Lauritz Kolderup Rosenvinge aimed to link the botanical records of Greenland, Iceland, the Faroes, Scotland and Denmark, building a platform for comparison across the North Atlantic region. This would allow scientists to trace patterns in the flora stretching from continental Europe to the subarctic islands.
Securing support from the Carlsberg Foundation, Warming and Rosenvinge enlisted experts to document Iceland’s plant life. They edited the first three volumes, with the work continuing after their deaths. These efforts laid a critical foundation for understanding Iceland’s natural environment even as Iceland gained political independence and took over its own scientific research.
What the books reveal about Iceland’s nature
The Botany of Iceland addresses the full sweep of plant life and habitats. It includes detailed studies on marine algae by Helgi Jónsson, the physical geography of Iceland by Þorvaldur Thoroddsen, and investigations into diatoms and bryophytes. Several essays cover lichens, freshwater algae, fungi, and larger vascular plants. For example, the extensive work on the lichen flora by Olaf Galløe and major treatments of the larger fungi expand understanding far beyond what earlier sources had provided.
Other sections focus on plant communities, with studies of vegetation in the Central Highlands by Steindór Steindórsson and research into the flora of the Reykjanes peninsula by Emil Hadač. The project’s contributors provided both comprehensive lists and in-depth essays, producing a resource valued by generations of botanists.
Recognition of the scholarship’s quality has persisted. The studies by Helgi Jónsson, H. Mølholm Hansen and Johannes Grøntved are noted as classics in the field, underpinning much of what is known about Iceland’s flora today. While a final volume was planned, changing times and increased local expertise in Iceland meant the work became a milestone rather than the first part of an ongoing series.
Sources
- Wikipedia
- Wikipedia (Icelandic) in Icelandic
