3309071a Carex ramenskii Pacific race
Distribution
East Chukotka: Rare
Western Alaska: Rare
Shrub Tundra: Rare
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Frequent
Geography: Amphi-Pacific/Beringian: RFE ALA.
Notes: Elven, Murray, and Solstad: We presume this race developed from Carex lyngbyei subsp. cryptocarpa x C. subspathacea. Carex ramenskii is probably fairly frequent both in South and East Chukotka and in Alaska north to the northern limit of C. lyngbyei. We have confirmed C. ramenskii in the field from some sites on the Chukchi Peninsula and several in western Alaska. According to the herbarium material (ALA), plants we would assign to C. ramenskii (as different from the pollen-sterile hybrids) occur on the American side north to the northern parts of the Seward Peninsula and the Kotzebue area but not farther north, i.e., they stop at the northern limit of C. lyngbyei. The map of Hultén (1968a) is misleading as to range. Our reason for accepting three species on both sides of the Bering Strait - C. lyngbyei, C. ramenskii, C. subspathacea - is that three morphologically different taxa, all with fully developed anthers, pollen, and fruits, co-occur there, sometimes together on the shores but more often apart with C. subspathacea closest to the sea and C. lyngbyei on the least saline parts of the shores (and in swamps). The plants often grow as extensive, distinct belts. Standley et al. (2002) reported C. ramenskii from the northern Yukon Territory but all reports from there and from northern Alaska almost certainly belong to tall-grown C. subspathacea (Aiken in comment: perhaps not grazed by geese).