330509 Eriophorum scheuchzeri Hoppe
- Hoppe, Bot. Taschenb. 1800: 104 (1800). Holotype (W): Austria: "am Tuscher Tauern". Type destroyed.
2n=
58. - Russia (N), Siberia, Far East (N), Alaska, Canada. - Numerous reports, many probably belonging to subsp. arcticum.
Geography: Circumpolar-alpine.
Notes: Novoselova: Subspecies arcticum differs from subsp. scheuchzeri in slightly smaller size, (5) 7-20 vs. 8-30 cm; thinner culms, (0.7) 1.1-1.2 (2) vs. (1) 1,2-1.5 (2) mm; spherical vs. half-spherical flowering spikelets; outermost scales lanceolate or rarely widely lanceolate, 0.6-0.9 cm long, with broad silvery margins, often yellowish near the apex vs. widely lanceolate, rarely ovoid, 0.9-1 cm long, very rarely with narrow margins and never yellowish; outer scales lanceolate, long-pointed, black or dark grey with pale margins, usually with at least some red stripes of pigmented cells vs. narrowly lanceolate, very long-pointed, brownish grey, with narrow pale margins, and with numerous red stripes. See also Novoselova (1994).
Elven, Murray, and Solstad: Ball and Wujek (2002) did not recognize races within Eriophorum scheuchzeri in North America. However, the characters reported by Novoselova have now been confirmed on a large material from North America, Greenland, and Europe. The differences in the scales are especially pronounced. Cayouette (2004) applied Novoselova's characters on Canadian material and found them sufficient for a division into two taxa. He accepted two races but did not specify their ranges except for subsp. arcticum in northeastern Canada. Elven surveyed the material from Norway and Svalbard (Elven et al. 2005) and Greenland (in O) and Elven and Solstad the material in Iceland (ICEL). They found that the differences hold also there (see below). Elven and Murray surveyed the material from Alaska and northwestern Canada (ALA) and reached the same conclusion (Elven and Murray in prep.). There are two distinct taxa but with some geographical overlap and with several at least partly pollen-fertile transitional forms in the zone of overlap. The ranges of the two subspecies of E. scheuchzeri are not known in detail as the material from some regions has not been revised. For additional variation within subsp. scheuchzeri, see that subspecies.
Higher Taxa
- Eriophorum [3305,genus]