345001 Molinia caerulea subsp. caerulea (L.) Moench
Distribution
Northern Fennoscandia: Rare
Shrub Tundra: Rare
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Frequent
- Moench, Methodus: 183 (1794). - Aira caerulea L., Sp. Pl.: 63 (1753). Lectotype (LINN): Europe. Herb. Linn. 85.1 (Trist and Sell 1988: 154).
2n=
36 (4x). - Europe. - Several reports.
Geography: European: NOR RUS.
Notes: Kuzeneva (1953) and Hultén (1971b) mapped Molinia caerulea from an arctic site near Teriberka on the Murman coast in northwestern European Russia. It is common in northern Norway but reaches the Arctic only in one site in Nordkapp (TROM).
Molinia caerulea s. lat. is polymorphic. Milkovits and Borhidi (1986) divided it on two series and eight species in Hungary alone, with chromosome numbers in the range 2n = 14-72. Trist and Sell (1988) reported two species far north in the British Isles and the same two morphological types are present in the southern parts of Scandinavia. The northern plants belong to M. caerulea s. str. Reports of a decaploid chromosome number (2n = 90, e.g., by Tzvelev PAF proposal) belong to the related M. arundinacea Schrank or subsp. arundinacea (Schrank) H. Paul which does not reach the Arctic.
Higher Taxa
- Molinia [3450,genus]