342109 Agrostis mertensii Trin.
Distribution
Northern Fennoscandia: Frequent
Kanin - Pechora: Frequent
Polar Ural - Novaya Zemlya: Frequent
Yamal - Gydan: Rare
Western Alaska: Rare
Northern Alaska - Yukon: Rare
Central Canada: Rare
Hudson Bay - Labrador: Frequent
Western Greenland: Frequent
Eastern Greenland: Frequent
Mid Arctic Tundra: Rare
Southern Arcti Tundra: Frequent
Shrub Tundra: Frequent
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Frequent
- Trin., Linnaea 10: 302 (1836). Lectotype (LE): Alaska: the Aleutian Islands, "in insula Unalaschka", 1829, leg. K.H. Mertens, TRIN-1622.01, plant 1 (Widén 1971: 51).
- Agrostis borealis Hartm., Handb. Skand. Fl., ed. 3: 17 (1838). Described from Scandinavia. - Agrostis mertensii subsp. borealis (Hartm.) Tzvelev, Novosti Sist. Vyssh. Rast. 10: 90 (1973).
2n=
56 (8x). - Europe (N), Russia (N), Far East (N, S), Canada, U.S.A. (NE), Greenland. - Numerous reports.
Taylor and Mulligan (1968) reported 2n = 42 (6x) from six counts in five populations from the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia, western Canada. There may be several ploidy levels in the plants from the Pacific areas but it is not clear whether the hexaploids reach the Arctic. The situation seems to be different in Japan where Tateoka (1972) reported 2n = 14, 21, and 56, and Tateoka and Michikawa (1987) reported 2n = 41, 42, 49, 50, 55, and 56. See Tateoka (1975). Some taxonomic complications or mixture of several species may be involved.
Geography: Amphi-Pacific - North American (N) - amphi-Atlantic - European (N): NOR RUS SIB ALA CAN GRL.
Notes: Aiken, Elven, and Tzvelev: The very widely amphi-Atlantic Agrostis borealis, described from northern Scandinavia and known from the Arctic from Canada east to Siberia, and the amphi-Pacific (and South American) A. mertensii, reaching the Arctic in Alaska, are sometimes kept apart as species or subspecies even if there is a nearly continuous range throughout North America and few differential characters. We have tried to apply the characters reported by Tzvelev on Canadian (Aiken) and Alaskan (Elven) material and have not been able to distinguish taxa. Subspecies are omitted.
Higher Taxa
- Agrostis [3421,genus]