Panarctic Flora

Browse

3309045 Carex capillaris L.

GBIF

Geography: Circumboreal-polar.

Notes: We recognize three northern races of Carex capillaris. The mainly arctic(-alpine) subsp. fuscidula differs from the mainly boreal Eurasian subsp. capillaris (temperate-boreal European type) in several characters, e.g., male spike subsessile to short pedunculate, only very rarely emerging above the nearest female spikes vs. long pedunculate and usually emerging above the nearest female spikes; female spikes few (mostly 2), mostly attached near the male spike but sometimes with a single lower spike, short and dense throughout their development vs. mostly more numerous (2-4 or rarely more), attached in a short or long row, elongating somewhat throughout their development; and bracts and mature perigynia brown to dark brown vs. greenish to pale brown. Subspecies fuscidula is the main arctic race in both North America and Eurasia. It seems to be absent from the Cordilleran areas south of the Yukon Territory and probably absent from Newfoundland-Labrador. In Greenland, it mainly occurs in the northern and eastern parts. It is the predominant race in Iceland. In Scandinavia, it replaces subsp. capillaris in the mountains but both races reach the northern, arctic coast.

More problematic are the temperate to low-arctic plants in southern and western Greenland, in North America, around the North Pacific, and perhaps in eastern Siberia. Ball (2002b) assigned these plants to subsp. capillaris but they differ from European subsp. capillaris in the female spikes numerous (up to 5-6) in a long row down the culm, almost linear early in their development and remaining narrow and loose, also remaining very pale (bracts nearly white hyaline, perigynia pale green). We accept these plants as a third race for which there are at least three proposals for names: "chlorostachys", "major" and "elongata". Two of these names are probably inappropriate.

The name C. capillaris subsp. chlorostachys (Steven) Á. Löve, D. Löve & Raymond, Canad. J. Bot. 35: 749 (1957) [C. chlorostachys Steven, Mém. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 4: 68 (1813)] is based on plants from the eastern Caucasus: near Yukharibash Pass (type in LE). We have not yet seen Asian plants that fully conform to the North American material and certainly not from as far west as the Caucasus. Nevertheless, this name has been applied fairly frequently by North American authors. We consider it misapplied.

The name C. capillaris var. major Drejer ex Blytt, Norges Fl. 1: 244 (1861) based on Drejer, Fl. Dan. 14, 40: t. 2374, f. 3 ("var. [major et robustior") (1843)] is based on Greenland plants. Also this name is inappropriate. Blytt's (1861) var. major has been considered a name for a race of C. capillaris, whereas Lange's (1890) var. robustior has for long been considered a synonym of C. krausei. However, both names are based on the same figure in Flora Danica. The Flora Danica table 2374 is interesting; figures 1-2 clearly show plants belonging to subsp. fuscidula (e.g., short-stalked male spike, short and dark brown female spikes), whereas the "var. major et robustior" in figure 3 clearly shows a C. krausei (shape and position of female spikes, gynaecandrous terminal spike).

We provisionally enter the third race under the North American name var. elongata as this name almost certainly pertain to the taxon in question. Varietas elongata constitutes nearly all the boreal North American plants we have inspected. In a survey of the material from Alaska and the Yukon Territory (ALA), we were able to assign every complete specimen with confidence to either subsp. fuscidula or var. elongata.

There may be an additional complication in northeastern North America as there are specimens from Newfoundland and southern Greenland that conform much closer to European subsp. capillaris than to North American var. elongata. We accept subsp. capillaris as arctic from Greenland, whereas the mainland North American plants of this type seem to be non-arctic.

Higher Taxa