Panarctic Flora

Browse

340102 Elymus trachycaulus (Link) Gould ex Shinners

Geography: Amphi-Beringian - North American.

Notes: Elven and Murray: Elymus trachycaulus s. lat. is complicated. Tzvelev accepted two species, E. trachycaulus and E. violaceus, each with several subspecies. Campbell and Soreng in Soreng et al. (2003) accepted the majority of Tzvelev's taxa but treated them as numerous subspecies of E. trachycaulus, six of them reaching the Arctic. Barkworth et al. (2007) accepted one broad species with three subspecies: subsp. trachycaulus, subsp. subsecundus, and subsp. virescens, and with E. violaceus as another species. We follow Barkworth et al. and accept two species - E. trachycaulus and E. violaceus - but we have found it difficult to assign the subspecific taxa with confidence. Several of the proposed taxa are largely sympatric (Hultén 1968a) and do not fit the ordinary concept of geographical races, especially not subsp. novae-angliae, subsp. subsecundus, or subsp. trachycaulus.

Higher Taxa