Panarctic Flora

370105 Papaver "murrayi"

2n= 52-54 (ca. 8x). - Alaska (N). - Solstad (2009). Octoploid in FCM, Solstad (2009, four plants from two localities).

Geography: American Beringian (or amphi-Beringian?): RFE? ALA CAN?

Notes: We consider Papaver "murrayi" a species separate from P. dahlianum (and P. uschakovii) due to consistent differences in several morphological features, e.g., in P. "murrayi" blades more bicolorous, buds >1.25 times as long as broad (vs. <1.25 times in P. dahlianum), capsule broadest at the very top, and a distinct pattern in AFLP markers resulting in a separate cluster in the analysis (Solstad 2009). The P. "murrayi" samples supported by AFLP analysis are from three localities in the Brooks Range in northern Alaska. No reports of P. dahlianum or plants resembling this species have been made previously from this region. Plants morphologically similar to P. dahlianum and P. "murrayi" have, however, recently been collected in the northernmost Yukon Territory (B. Bennett pers. comm., photos seen).

Many authors have reported P. dahlianum (as P. polare) from Wrangel Island (e.g., Rändel 1974; Bezdeleva 1987; Petrovsky 1999), based on plants (LE) morphologically resembling P. "murrayi". Papaver "murrayi" may be an amphi-Beringian vicariant to P. dahlianum, at a lower ploidy level.