320212 Luzula multiflora (Ehrh.) Lej.
- Lej., Fl. Spa 1: 169 (1811). - Juncus campestris var. multiflorus Ehrh., Beitr. Naturk. 5: 14 (1790). Neotype (M-33725): Italy: Süd-Tirol, Mendelgebirge, between St. Pauls and Perdonig, leg. I. Hertel and M. Hertel typ. cons. (Kirschner 2001a: 1190). Voucher of chromosome count of 2n = 36.
Geography: Circumboreal-polar.
Notes: Egorova et al.: The polymorphic Luzula multiflora has, as far as we know, not been experimentally investigated in an arctic context. It includes one mainly European temperate taxon, probably adventive in the Arctic, and an arctic-alpine complex of possibly several taxa. The former is comparatively simple and here treated as subsp. multiflora (L. multiflora s. str., for distribution see Hultén and Fries 1986). The latter includes the taxa named as "contracta", "frigida", "kjellmaniana" auct. ross. (non Miyabe and Kudô, see above), and "sibirica".
Schljakov (1979) accepted the taxon we name subsp. frigida as a species apart from L. multiflora. He erroneously applied the name L. kjellmaniana for it and he accepted three races: subsp. frigida, subsp. kjellmaniana, and subsp. sibirica. These three races have often been accepted in Russian literature, but the 'type' race - "kjellmaniana" - must be renamed as var. kjellmanioides. According to Tolmachev (1963), subsp. frigida is mainly a northern European race with a few mapped localities in northwestern Siberia, subsp. sibirica is distributed through Siberia from the Ob to the Anadyr, and var. kjellmanioides (as "kjellmaniana") occurs mainly in northeastern Asia north to Chukotka (and isolated in Kharaulakh, but these plants perhaps belong to "sibirica" according to Egorova in comment) and "probably ... in arctic districts of Alaska". In Alaska, Hultén (1968a) mapped both var. frigida and var. "kjellmaniana" in these meanings. Porsild and Cody (1980) considered all northern North American plants as L. multiflora subsp. frigida var. contracta, whereas Swab (2000) named them subsp. frigida. We can all support Yurtsev's comment that the whole L. multiflora aggregate, and its Pacific and Beringian representatives in particular, urgently needs investigation and revision with respect to delimitation of taxa and their rank.
In addition to subsp. multiflora, we provisionally accept the three taxa of Schljakov (1979) but as races of L. multiflora due to the extensive interfertility between subsp. multiflora and subsp. frigida in northern Europe and some difficulties in demarcation between the races in the Pacific regions: subsp. frigida, subsp. sibirica, and var. kjellmanioides ("kjellmaniana" auct. ross.). Arguments for and against that solution are given below. Still, several questions remain. How does Scandinavian subsp. frigida relate to Siberian subsp. sibirica and subsp. sibirica to Pacific var. kjellmanioides? Which of the names based on Russian types ("sibirica", "kjellmanioides") are relevant in North America and vice versa ("contracta")? Is there a west-east variation in North America? How does the North American and Greenlandic var. contracta relate to the Scandinavian subsp. frigida? Another problem is the distinctness of the proposed taxa. Some comments are referred below:
Yurtsev: Accepting rank of subspecies for L. sibirica and L. "kjellmaniana" auct. ross. seems quite reasonable.
Egorova: The status of L. sibirica is to be revised. According to Chrtek and Krísa (1980), L. sibirica is conspecific with L. multiflora subsp. frigida.
Kirschner: The idea to join subsp. frigida and L. sibirica (L. multiflora subsp. sibirica) is not bad; there are differences between the two but at the southern margin of the Asian range of the group the distinction is not clear. So called "kjellmaniana" belongs here, too.
Egorova: I am inclined to consider L. multiflora subsp. "kjellmaniana" auct. ross. identical to L. multiflora subsp. frigida. It is possible as well that subsp. sibirica should be referred to the synonymy of subsp. frigida. But it is necessary to check whether the shape of the perianth segments is constant. According to some authors they are broadly lanceolate and abruptly narrowed into a subulate tip in "sibirica", not gradually tapering as in subsp. frigida.
Elven: Comparing northern Siberian subsp. sibirica in the field in 2004 with Scandinavian subsp. frigida, I found them to differ in general habit, inflorescence structure, and especially in the shape of the perianth segments as suggested by Egorova. Presenting several unlabelled vouchers of subsp. sibirica from the Lena River area to the northern European specialist on these species (F. Wischmann), he found them to combine characters of L. multiflora subsp. frigida and L. sudetica, and they did not fit his Scandinavian concept of subsp. frigida.
There the matter stands.
Higher Taxa
- Luzula [3202,genus]