3309084a Carex bigelowii subsp. bigelowii
Distribution
Northern Fennoscandia: Scattered
Central Canada: Scattered
Hudson Bay - Labrador: Frequent
Ellesmere Island: Rare
Western Greenland: Frequent
Eastern Greenland: Frequent
Southern Arcti Tundra: Scattered
Shrub Tundra: Frequent
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Frequent
- Carex hyperborea Drejer, Naturhist. Tidsskr. 3: 43 (1841). Described from Greenland. - Carex bigelowii subsp. hyperborea (Drejer) Böcher, Meddel. Grønland 147, 9: 50 (1952).
2n=
70. - Canada (E), U.S.A. (NE). - Löve and Löve (1966, 1981d).
Geography: North American (NE) - amphi-Atlantic (W): NOR RUS? CAN GRL.
Notes: Egorova (PAF proposal) accepted one amphi-Atlantic subspecies: subsp. bigelowii including subsp. rigida. There is morphological and molecular support for a division of the material on two races (Schönswetter et al. 2008; or perhaps species, see Nakamatte and Lye 2008), one mainly American-Greenlandic with some extension into Scandinavia, and one European (and from morphological evidence in at least northeastern Greenland). The former race is subsp. bigelowii (including Greenland C. hyperborea). Also Chater (1980) accepted this race for "N. Europe" but with the comment that "some authors indeed consider that subsp. [bigelowii] does not occur in Europe at all". The Scandinavian sample(s) that connect to North American "bigelowii" s. str. in AFLP are from the northern parts. However, plants corresponding morphologically to subsp. bigelowii occur quite frequently in the Fennoscandian mountains north to the Arctic and perhaps also into the arctic parts of northwestern European Russia. There seems to be an ecological difference from subsp. rigida, at least in northern Europe. Plants assigned to subsp. bigelowii are mainly found in moist places in heaths and the drier (tussocky) parts of mires, whereas subsp. rigida is a plant of dry heaths, exposed ridges, mountain tops, and dry snowbank environments.