342609d Poa pratensis subsp. alpigena (Lindm.) Hiitonen
Distribution
Northern Iceland: Frequent
Northern Fennoscandia: Frequent
Kanin - Pechora: Frequent
Svalbard - Franz Joseph Land: Frequent
Polar Ural - Novaya Zemlya: Frequent
Yamal - Gydan: Frequent
Taimyr - Severnaya Zemlya: Frequent
Anabar - Onenyo: Frequent
Kharaulakh: Frequent
Yana - Kolyma: Frequent
West Chukotka: Frequent
Wrangel Island: Frequent
South Chukotka: Frequent
East Chukotka: Frequent
Western Alaska: Frequent
Northern Alaska - Yukon: Frequent
Central Canada: Scattered
Hudson Bay - Labrador: Frequent
Ellesmere Island: Rare
Western Greenland: Frequent
Eastern Greenland: Frequent
Polar desert: Rare
Northern arctic Tundra: Frequent
Mid Arctic Tundra: Frequent
Southern Arcti Tundra: Frequent
Shrub Tundra: Frequent
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Frequent
- Hiitonen, Suom. Kasvio: 205 (1933). - Poa alpigena Lindm., Sv. Fanerogamfl.: 91 (1918). - Nomen novum for Poa pratensis var. iantha Laest. Internal note: Publication data lacking. Described from "Lapland" (Sweden).
- ?Poa rigens Hartm., Handb. Skand. Fl.: 448 (1820). Type: Sweden: Lule lappmark, Kvikkjokk, leg. L.L. Læstadius. See notes. - ?Poa pratensis subsp. rigens (Hartm.) Tzvelev, Novosti Sist. Vyssh. Rast. 9: 47 (1972).
2n=
28-127 (4x-ca. 18x). - Europe (N), Russia (N), Far East (N), Alaska, Canada. - Numerous reports.
Flovik (1938) reported 2n = 42+4ff and 44 for bulbil-reproducing plants (might be "colpodea") and 2n = ca. 77 and 84 for seed-reproducing plants from Svalbard.
Geography: Circumboreal-polar: ICE NOR RUS SIB RFE ALA CAN GRL.
Notes: Poa alpigena is sometimes erroneously stated to have been described from "Spitzbergen, Liefdebay". The mistake is probably caused by subsp. colpodea being described from the Liefdefjord area in Svalbard.
Tzvelev (PAF proposal) recognized two taxa within the North American and northwestern European concept of subsp. alpigena: subsp. alpigena s. str. and subsp. rigens. Subspecies rigens was originally described as similar to subsp. irrigata (and entered as a synonym of that name by Soreng et al. 2003 but as a synonym of subsp. alpigena by Soreng 2007). Tzvelev (PAF proposal) suggested it to be a subspecies of P. alpigena and as disjunct: northern Fennoscandia (rare), Kanin-Pechora (rare), West Chukotka (rare), and western Greenland (rare). There are numerous morphologically separable 'biotypes' within subsp. alpigena but we have not been able (in the Nordic area) to group them into two main races: subsp. alpigena and subsp. rigens. We therefore believe that we must be pragmatic and accept a wide circumscription of this subspecies, including apomictic biotypes that may be comparatively little related. However, Tzvelev (in comment) later stated P. rigens to be rather different and more closely related to the Beringian P. sublanata (see below).
Higher Taxa
- Poa pratensis [342609,species]