Panarctic Flora

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340502 Leymus interior (Hultén) Tzvelev

Distribution

Taimyr - Severnaya Zemlya: Rare
Anabar - Onenyo: Scattered
Kharaulakh: Frequent
West Chukotka: Scattered
Wrangel Island: Rare
South Chukotka: Scattered
East Chukotka: Scattered
Southern Arcti Tundra: Rare
Shrub Tundra: Frequent
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Frequent

2n= 28 (4x). - Siberia (N), Far East (N). - Numerous reports.

Geography: Asian (NE): SIB RFE.

Notes: Elven and Murray: We provisionally accept Tzvelev's view that the northern Siberian Leymus interior differs at species level from the southern Siberian L. ajanensis (V.N. Vassil.) Tzvelev, Novosti Sist. Vyssh. Rast. 9: 59 (1972) [Asperella ajanensis V.N. Vassil., Bot. Mater. Gerb. Bot. Inst. Komarova Akad. Nauk SSSR 8: 216 (1940)]. Soreng et al. (2003) synonymized them under the priority name L. ajanensis.

Leymus interior is mainly a plant of interior river valleys, whereas L. mollis is coastal and mostly a seashore plant. Even if they differ in quantitative characters mainly, the differences seem to be constant. Yurtsev reported and annotated L. interior from several localities on the Seward Peninsula in western Alaska. Soreng et al. (2003) stated: "Recently reported from Alaska as [L. ajanensis]". The annotated Alaskan plants (ALA) differs from Asian material of L. interior in much longer glumes (which is the main differential character) and belong, in our opinion, within L. mollis, even if they grew some distance from the seashores. Barkworth (2007a) excluded this species from America on the authority of Murray.

Higher Taxa