Panarctic Flora

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343201 Puccinellia maritima (Huds.) Parl.

Distribution

Northern Iceland: Frequent
Northern Fennoscandia: Present only in the Borderline Arctic
Western Greenland: Rare
Shrub Tundra: Rare
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Frequent

2n= 54-56 56 (8x). - Europe (N, W), Greenland. - Several reports.
Not included: Early chromosome numbers reported for Puccinellia maritima vary from diploid to 11-ploid: Maude (1939, 1940, the British Isles, 2n = 63); Church (1949, North America, 2n = 42); Hubbard (1954, the British Isles, 2n = 63, 70); Brown-Packer in Löve and Löve (1961d, the British Isles, 2n = 14, 49, 77). The 6x report (Church) is North American and belongs to another species (Sørensen 1953 assigned it to his P. coarctata group). In more recent times, Newton (1965) and Mills (1967) reported a very large variation in chromosome numbers in the British Isles (2n = 14, 42, 49, 51-63, 56, 63, 70, 77) and assumed the species to be apomictic. The British reports of 2x, 6x, 7x, 9x, 10x, and 11x are inexplicable. There are no other species of Puccinellia in the British Isles with fully documented numbers at these levels and no similar species. It is therefore difficult to discount them as misidentifications but they are not in accordance with later investigations. In a more recent investigation of British P. maritima, Gray (1972) and Scott and Gray (1976) found only one chromosome number, 2n = 56 (octoploid with slight aneuploidy), and amphimixis, even predominant allogamy. The other numbers are therefore not accepted.

Geography: Amphi-Atlantic (E) - European: ICE (NOR) GRL.

Notes: Puccinellia maritima reaches the Borderline Arctic in Norway in several localities.

Higher Taxa