3309070 Carex salina Wahlenb.
Distribution
Northern Fennoscandia: Frequent
Hudson Bay - Labrador: Rare
Shrub Tundra: Scattered
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Frequent
- Wahlenb., Kongl. Vetensk. Acad. Nya Handl. 24: 165 (1803). Lectotype (UPS): Norway: Troms, "Norska Nordland wid Lyngen", July 1800, leg. Wahlenberg (Moberg and Nilsson 1991: 291).
2n=
77-79. - Canada (E). - Cayouette and Morisset (1985); Cayouette (1986). Six counts of 2n = 77, two of 2n = 78, two of 2n = 79.
Not included: Reports of 2n = 84 from Scandinavia (Heilborn 1928) and Iceland (Löve and Löve 1956b). Löve and Löve (1975a) referred Heilborn's report to C. salina. At Heilborn's time, the name C. salina was applied in a collective meaning including both C. recta s. lat. and C. subspathacea. As C. salina is not known from Iceland, the report of the Löves from Iceland refers to something else, perhaps C. ramenskii but more probably tall-grown C. subspathacea.
Geography: Amphi-Atlantic: NOR RUS CAN.
Notes: Cayouette and Morisset (1985) considered Canadian Carex salina a hybrid species from C. paleacea and C. subspathacea. Standley et al. (2002) accepted this explanation. In northern Europe, these three taxa behave as species - morphologically, ecologically, and reproductivelly - whereas three other named plants have putative hybrid origins (see the Temnemis x Phacocystis complex below). The northern European C. salina overlaps geographically with both proposed parents but has a major part of its current range outside that of C. paleacea. A recent study of northwestern European Russian plants based on AFLP and morphology (Volkova et al. 2008) gives support to the Canadian hybrid hypothesis, i.e., C. salina as developed from the hybrid C. paleacea x subspathacea. Carex salina is much more stabilized and consistent over large areas, and independent from one of its parents (C. paleacea), than are the "species" of the Temnemis x Phacocystis complex. For Iceland and Greenland, see C. ramenskii.
Higher Taxa
- Carex [3309,genus]