Panarctic Flora

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271501 Dactylorhiza fuchsii (Druce) Soó

Distribution

Northern Fennoscandia: Rare
Shrub Tundra: Rare
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Frequent

2n= 40 (4x). - Europe, Russia. - Numerous reports, partly for "maculata".

Geography: European - Asian (W): NOR.

Notes: Some authors treat Dactylorhiza fuchsii as subspecies of D. maculata (e.g., Hylander 1966; Mossberg and Stenberg 2003; Pedersen in prep. Flora Nordica, in comment), others as species (e.g., Hämet-Ahti et al. 1998; Elven et al. 2005), sometimes with several subspecies (e.g., Soó 1980). There are several morphological differences between D. fuchsii and D. maculata, they occupy different albeit overlapping site types and have different albeit largely overlapping geographical ranges, and the taxa generally remain distinct where sympatric. The main argument for treating "fuchsii" as subspecies of D. maculata is difficulties in clearly separating "fuchsii" and "maculata" s. str., especially in Fennoscandia. The main argument for accepting two species, besides the morphology and ecology, is that the octoploid D. maculata is supported by experimental evidence to be an allopolyploid with one of its genomes from the tetraploid D. fuchsii, the other presumably from another species (Hedrén 1996a; Hedrén et al. 2001). Documented hybrids are sterile hexaploids.

Higher Taxa