330506 Eriophorum komarovii V.N. Vassil.
Distribution
Western Alaska: Rare
Shrub Tundra: Rare
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Frequent
- V.N. Vassil., Bot. Mater. Gerb. Bot. Inst. Komarova Akad. Nauk SSSR 8, 7: 102 (1940). Holotype (LE): Russian Far East: "Okhotskii raion, uste r. Jani, v ozerke", 14. Aug. 1930, leg. V. Vassiljev. - Eriophorum polystachion subsp. komarovii (V.N. Vassil.) M.S. Novos., Novosti Sist. Vyssh. Rast. 31: 8 (1998).
- Eriophorum angustifolium subsp. scabriusculum Hultén, Svensk Bot. Tidskr. 30: 518 (1936). Described from North America in general; no material cited.
Geography: Asian (E) - amphi-Pacific - North American: ALA.
Notes: Elven and Murray: We have seen one specimen (ALA) of Eriophorum komarovii from an arctic locality, on Nunivak Island in western Alaska.
Novoselova (1998) reported this taxon from the Lena-Kolyma area, eastern Siberia, Angara-Sayan, Dahuria, Mongolia, northeastern China, Ussuri, Sakhalin, the Okhotsk area, Kamtchatka, the southern Anadyr area, southern Alaska, the Rocky Mountains, northern U.S.A., and southern Canada. Hultén (1936) characterized his subsp. scabriusculum by scabrous peduncles and narrow leaves. The ranges mapped by Hultén (1962) for his subsp. scabriusculum and by Novoselova (1998) for her subsp. komarovii are nearly identical and show a southern pattern compared with E. angustifolium s. str. in Asia and North America. Our determinations of specimens support both these authors and confirm that the two names represent one taxon. Elven and Murray (in prep.) discuss its characters and its range in northwestern North America.
Plants with the diagnostic features of E. komarovii are frequent in boreal North American material and have regularly been identified as "triste". This has probably been a major reason for the reluctance by some to accept E. triste. Three morphologically rather different taxa with different ranges and ecological demands were tried encompassed within two taxa. Ball and Wujek (2002) considered the plants we assign to E. komarovii as transitional between their subsp. angustifolium and subsp. triste. We disagree; the only feature shared by E. triste and E. komarovii is the scabrous peduncles. Ecologically and geographically, E. komarovii and E. triste are at the opposite ends of the variation pattern in many characters, with E. angustifolium in the middle.
Higher Taxa
- Eriophorum [3305,genus]