Were there lots of wildflower bulbs in Greenland?
Jane McGary (Sat, 07 Jul 2007 18:15:14 PDT)

Joe wrote,
I don't know what bulbs are associated with boreal forests, but I suspect

I spent 12 years in the boreal forest zone (in Alaska), and am sorry to
report there are almost no bulbs that far north in the Americas; the only
bulb that gets to the interior is Lloydia serotina. There is also a
Zigadenus (I think Z. elegans) but I believe it is more fibrous rooted.
Fritillaria camschatcensis, on both sides of Bering Strait, is strictly
coastal in its northern range. In Siberia there are a few more, such as
Lilium martagon and Erythronium sibiricum, but they are far eastern in
Asia, so presumably not likely to have had relatives in Greenland.

Hulten's Flora of Alaska contains maps showing circumboreal distributions
of many plants, and these would be a good guide to what might have been
present in Greenland in earlier millennia, I think.

Jane McGary