On the Origin of the Strand Flat

One of the most fruitful problems to Scandinavian plant geography has been that of the origin of the Scandinavian alpine and arctic flora. A long time after the discovery of the Ice Ages in Northern Europe, the supposition was held that all plant life in Scandinavia was destroyed during the last Ice Age. This was the “tabula rasa” theory. According to this theory all plant life should have immigrated into Scandinavia after the last Ice Age. This also applied to the alpine and arctic element in the flora of Scandinavia. This element should have immigrated from areas outside the maximum glaciation in Central and Eastern Europe. The Scandinavian arctic-alpine flora is hence expected to be a province of the Middle or Eastern European flora.

This is not the fact. The Scandinavian alpine flora contains an important and even dominating element of species with their relatives on the western side of the Atlantic ocean. These species could hardly have their origin in Central and Eastern Europe.