Panarctic Flora

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3309024 Carex viridula Michx.

GBIF

2n= 68 70 72. - Europe. - Several reports, many for C. oederi auct. or C. serotina.

Geography: North American - amphi-Atlantic - European - Asian (W).

Notes: Ball: No-one has demonstrated that Carex serotina and C. viridula can in any way be distinguished. Also C. viridula is variable.

Elven: Many authors (e.g., Schmid 1983, 1986; Pykälä and Toivonen 1994; Crins 2002b) have considered European C. serotina and North American C. viridula to be one species under the priority name C. viridula. I concur but am not yet convinced all the variation belongs within one subspecies or variety (Schmid's subsp. viridula as opposed to subsp. brachyrhyncha = C. lepidocarpa; Pykälä and Toivonen's var. viridula). There is some variation in northern Europe (see, e.g., Hylander's 1966 and Palmgren's subsp. fennica) that would disappear in such a merger. The matter should be left for some cross-Atlantic molecular comparison. For the Checklist, we synonymize C. serotina with C. viridula (var. viridula) but keep var. pulchella apart.

Higher Taxa