Panarctic Flora

3309073-074 The Temnemis x Phacocystis complex C. recta, C. sp. aff. halophila

2n= ca. 70-ca. 80. - Europe (N). - Heilborn (1928); Löve and Löve (1975a, see notes).

Geography: Amphi-Atlantic.

Notes: Hybrids between species of the Temnemis and Phacocystis complexes are rather common and may form extensive stands due to horizontal rhizome systems. Some dispersal is probable as detached rhizome parts may be transported by sea currents. The morphological variation combined with the degree of anther and pollen abortion suggests that this complex consists of both largely pollen-sterile primary hybrid clones and swarms of more or less stabilized, at least pollen-fertile hybrid species.

Two such hybrid species have been reported to reach the Arctic, entered below as Carex recta and C. sp. aff. halophila. Three other parts not known to reach the Arctic are: C. vacillans Drejer in Hartm., Sv. Norsk Exc.-fl.: iii (1846), described from southern Scandinavia, accepted as a species on both sides of the Atlantic, and interpreted to have developed from C. nigra x C. paleacea (Cayouette and Morisset 1985, 1986; Standley et al. 2002); an un-named, much coarser southern Scandinavian taxon or hybrid swarm combining features of C. acuta and C. paleacea; and C. halophila F. Nyl., Spic. Pl. Fenn. 2: 21 (1844), described from the northern Baltic (Bothnian) Sea in northern Fennoscandia, probably restricted to the northern Baltic and the White Sea, and assumed to have developed from C. aquatilis x C. paleacea. If this interpretation is right, C. halophila may have the same parentage as C. recta but differs in some characters. For type of the name C. halophila, see C. cuspidata in Moberg and Nilsson (1991: 291).