Panarctic Flora

370113 Papaver keelei A.E. Porsild

• A.E. Porsild, Bull. Natl. Mus. Canada 101: 20 (1945). Holotype (CAN!): Canada: the Yukon Territory, Canol Road, Mackenzie Range, small tributary to Little Keele River, Mile 51, 08. Sept. 1944, leg. A.E. Porsild and A.J. Breitung 11,782.
• Papaver macounii var. discolor Hultén, Acta Univ. Lund., n. s., sect. 2, 41, 1: 803 (1945). Holotype (S!): Alaska: Seward Peninsula, Nome, hillside, 11. July 1938, leg. J.P. Anderson 3250. - Papaver macounii subsp. discolor (Hultén) Rändel ex D.F. Murray, Novon 5: 294 (1995).
• Papaver scammanianum D. Löve, Bot. Not. 109: 188 (1956). Holotype (GH): Alaska, White Mts,, Eagle Summit, Porcupine Dome, 23.-30. June 1945, leg. E. Scamman 3530.

2n= (1) 28 (4x). - Far East (N), Alaska, Canada (NW). - Several reports, numerous counts. Tetraploid in FCM, Solstad (2009, ten plants from eight localities).
(2) 6x. - Alaska (N). - Hexaploid in FCM, Solstad (2009, three plants from two localities in the Alaska and Brooks ranges).
Not included: Reports of 2n = 70 (10x), see notes below.

Geography: Amphi-Beringian: RFE ALA CAN.

Notes: Papaver keelei is by far the most common species of Papaver in East Chukotka, Alaska, the Yukon Territory, and the westernmost mainland Northwest Territories (the Mackenzie and Richardson mountains). The records from Banks Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (Porsild and Cody 1980; Solstad 2007) have proved to belong to P. hultenii (conclusions by Solstad and Elven in 2009 based on CAN and DAO specimens). No morphological differences have been found between American and Asian plants and they are also inseparable in molecular markers. This entity is well documented as tetraploid (2n = 28) from both sides of the Straits but occasional hexaploids occur (see above) without any evident difference in morphology or AFLP markers, i.e., probably results of autopolyploidy. Papaver keelei keeps distinct from all other species in the AFLP analysis. However, a loose cluster of P. keelei and the Asian high polyploids P. paucistaminum and P. atrovirens is supported.

Porsild (e.g., Porsild 1966) considered P. keelei and P. macounii (subsp. discolor) specifically different and both as present in the Yukon Territory, the latter as large-flowered and as rare. Porsild and Cody (1980) assigned all Alaskan and Yukon plants to P. keelei, whereas Kiger and Murray (1997) tentatively synonymized P. keelei with P. macounii subsp. discolor. Several populations of plants corresponding to Porsild's concept of Yukon P. keelei were included in our sample for the AFLP analysis together with western Alaskan and Chukotkan subsp. macounii. We can see some morphological variation, but in the analysis all plants came out as one cluster without internal differentiation. The types of the names P. macounii var. discolor (S) and P. keelei (CAN) have been compared and conform with these two parts of our material. Papaver keelei and P. macounii subsp. discolor should be synonymized and considered as one species.

Numerous authors have stated that P. keelei is a decaploid with 2n = 70, whereas subsp. discolor is a tetraploid with 2n = 28 (e.g., Mulligan and Porsild 1969b; Porsild 1975; Löve and Löve 1975a; Petrovsky 1999). The reports of 2n = 70 from the Yukon Territory (Mulligan and Porsild 1969b; Porsild 1975) were assigned to P. keelei by the original authors. We (Murray, Solstad, Elven) have inspected the decaploid voucher plants (in CAN). They do not conform to our concept of P. keelei (or subsp. discolor) but we are not sure where to assign them. Papaver keelei is documented as tetraploid and occasionally hexaploid, but not as decaploid.