Panarctic Flora

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343204 Puccinellia nuttalliana (Schult.) Hitchc.

Distribution

Northern Alaska - Yukon: Rare
Central Canada: Rare
Hudson Bay - Labrador: Rare
Western Greenland: Scattered
Mid Arctic Tundra: Rare
Southern Arcti Tundra: Scattered
Shrub Tundra: Scattered
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Frequent
Northern Alaska - Yukon: Rare
Shrub Tundra: Rare
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Frequent
Central Canada: Rare
Shrub Tundra: Rare
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Frequent
Central Canada: Rare
Hudson Bay - Labrador: Rare
Western Greenland: Scattered
Mid Arctic Tundra: Rare
Southern Arcti Tundra: Scattered
Shrub Tundra: Scattered
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Rare
Western Greenland: Rare
Mid Arctic Tundra: Presence uncertain
Southern Arcti Tundra: Rare
Shrub Tundra: Rare

2n= (1) 42 (6x). - Far East (N), Canada. - Bowden (1951, for P. borealis, see Taylor and Mulligan 1968, and for P. nuttalliana s. lat.); Probatova et al. (1981, for P. nuttalliana).
(2) 56 (8x). - Canada, Greenland. - Church (1949, for P. nuttalliana s. lat.); Böcher and Larsen (1950, for P. deschampsioides, Greenland); Jørgensen et al. (1958, for P. deschampsioides and P. rosenkrantzii, both Greenland); Löve and Löve (1981b, for P. deschampsioides, Hudson Bay).

Geography: Amphi-Pacific - North American: ALA CAN GRL.

Notes: Consaul and Gillespie (2001) argued from morphology for a synonymization of several previous species names with Puccinellia nuttalliana. Soreng et al. (2003) synonymized with P. nuttalliana the Siberian P. borealis subsp. neglecta (but not the amphi-Beringian subsp. borealis), the arctic American P. deschampsioides, the northwestern North American P. interior, and the northeastern North American P. lucida. Davis and Consaul (2007) synonymized all of P. borealis and P. rosenkrantzii with P. nuttalliana but they synonymized P. lucida with P. nutkaënsis. Tzvelev (1964c) indicated that P. borealis is morphologically close to the mainly European P. distans, perhaps derived from introduced plants under arctic conditions. If this chain of thought is developed, very many temperate and arctic species will fall within such a mega-species, and its priority name would be P. distans. Soreng et al. and Davis and Consaul do not seem to have taken the Eurasian variation fully into consideration. Until more experimental data are available we keep the mainly Asian P. borealis apart, whereas the four others are provisionally merged within one species. We are not convinced that the chosen solution is the best one; see, e.g., the difference in geographical patterns coupled with a ploidy difference. The four proposed species are therefore entered in the distribution table:

Puccinellia nuttalliana s. str. (i.e., as previously considered) is amphi-Pacific and all the reports of hexaploids seem to come from the Pacific regions. It is reported to reach the Arctic as rare in the North Alaska region only.

Puccinellia interior is interior North American and perhaps also amphi-Beringian. It is reported as hexaploid and reaches the Arctic as rare in the Central Canada region only, but is also frequent in interior Alaska and the Yukon Territory.

Puccinellia deschampsioides is restricted to the non-Beringian arctic parts of Canada and in western Greenland, reported as rare in the Central Canada and Hudson-Labrador regions and as scattered in western Greenland. It is well supported as an octoploid.

Puccinellia rosenkrantzii is reported only from western Greenland, as rare and as an octoploid.

Higher Taxa