Panarctic Flora

370120 Papaver lenaense (Tolm.)

• Papaver pulvinatum subsp. lenaense Tolm., Fl. Arct. URSS 7: 24 (1975). Lectotype (LE!): Siberia: "Yakutskaya ASSR, severnaya okonechnost Kharaulakhskogo khrebeta, praviy bereg Bykovsky protoki r. Leni, okrestnosti p. Sokol, 7220'N, 12540'E, Zaliv Kiries-Khamo", 19. Aug. 1956, leg. T.G. Polozova and B.A. Yurtsev (Elven et al. 2009: 989). See notes.
• Papaver nudicaule var. riparium V.V. Petrovsky, Bot. Zhurn. 88, 11: 116 (2003). Holotype (LE!): Siberia: Yakutia, "districtus Bulunensis, in vicinitate pagi Czekurovka, ad ripam dextram fluminis Lena", 05. Aug. 1984, leg. V. Petrovsky and T. Plieva.

2n= (1) 56 (8x). - Siberia (N). - Zhukova et al. (2003, seven counts); Solstad (2009, one plant). Octoploid in FCM, Solstad (2009, two plants from one locality).
(2) 70 (10x). - Siberia (N). - Zhukova and Petrovsky (1987b, as P. nudicaule var. riparium); Zhukova et al. (2003, 19 counts as P. nudicaule var. riparium); Solstad (2009, three plants from two populations). Decaploid in FCM, Solstad (2009, 22 plants from seven localities).
(3) 84 (12x). - Siberia (N). - Zhukova and Petrovsky (1987b, as P. nudicaule var. riparium); Zhukova et al. (2003, two counts as P. nudicaule var. riparium).
(4) 105 (15x). - Siberia (N). - Zhukova et al. (2003, one count as P. nudicaule var. riparium).
Counts of 10x, 12x, and 15x have been found within one population (Zhukova et al. 2003).

Geography: Asian (NE): SIB.

Notes: We accept Papaver lenaense as a high-polyploid species, but the specific combination has not been published.

The previously published lectotype (LE!) of P. pulvinatum subsp. lenaense (Peschkova 1994a: 7) was based on a specimen from northern Yakutia, "ad brachium deltae Lenae fluminis Olenekskaya protoka dictum in vicinitate pagi Czaj-Tumus", 18.07.1956, leg. A.I. Tolmachev. We reject this lectotype because the specimen was not annotated or cited by Tolmachev (1975a), i.e., it is not part of the original material, and besides because it deviates from the protologue (see Elven et al. 2009).

Papaver lenaense includes the common, high-polyploid, and polymorphic plant of the lower Lena River valley in northern Yakutia. This plant appears as one cluster in the AFLP analysis, albeit variable also in AFLPs. The material includes plants with the morphological features and ploidy levels reported for P. pulvinatum subsp. lenaense (8x) and P. nudicaule var. riparium (10-12x). Morphologically, we could assign the endpoints of the variation under the two mentioned names, but we were not able to find any gap in the variation pattern between these endpoints. We assume that there is one high-polyploid, hybridogeneous entity along the lower Lena River, combining features and probably genomes from diploid P. microcarpum (subsp. czekanowskyi), tetraploid P. pulvinatum, and mainly tetraploid P. nudicaule s. lat. It should be accepted as a single species but formal recombination should wait for clarification vs. P. leucotrichum (see below).

Petrovsky commented that the lower Lena River var. riparium is morphologically close to P. nudicaule s. str. Elven and Solstad find it distinct from P. nudicaule s. str. as typified on a plant probably from the Lake Baikal area. The high ploidy level and the AFLP data suggest that var. riparium should be revised as above.