420205 Cerastium alpinum L.
- L., Sp. Pl.: 438 (1753). Lectotype (LAPP): Sweden: "Lapland". Linnaean Lapland Herbarium 192 (Jonsell and Jarvis 1994: 156).
Geography: Amphi-Atlantic - European.
Notes: The designated type of Cerastium alpinum belongs to the hairy but not lanate northern European mountain plant. The original elements cited in the protologue (Linnaeus 1753: 438-439) also include mainland European material of subsp. lanatum.
Elven and Grundt: Three subspecies are currently accepted in northern Europe (Jonsell et al. 2001; Mossberg and Stenberg 2003; Elven et al. 2005): subsp. alpinum described from northern Sweden; subsp. glabratum described from northern Norway and differing from subsp. alpinum in, e.g., being glabrous to subglabrous with slightly narrower leaves and often some purplish colour in stems and leaves; and subsp. lanatum described from central Europe and differing from subsp. alpinum in, e.g., distal leaves of vegetative shoots elliptic to rounded vs. oblanceolate to spathulate, leaves lanate with dense apical tuft of crisp hairs vs. no or few apical crisp hairs, stems densely lanate with few or no glandular hairs (except for pedicels) vs. hairy with mixture of non-glandular and glandular hairs, and sepals elliptic and subacute vs. lanceolate and acute. See Grundt et al. (2000) and Jonsell et al. (2001) for characters and discussions. These races seem to encompass the major variation in mainland Europe (including Russia) and Iceland, and they most probably are results of eco-geographical divergence. We follow Jonsell et al. (2001) except for treating their subsp. glabratum as a variety (var. glabrum).
Hultén (1956) assigned to subsp. lanatum, besides plants from central and northern mainland Europe, also plants from Svalbard, Jan Mayen, Greenland, and northeastern North America. Some plants from southern Greenland and mainland North America fit closely with European subsp. lanatum but the more northern plants do not. Morton (2005a) accepted subsp. alpinum and subsp. lanatum for North America (including Greenland) but based on slightly different characters than those applied by Jonsell et al. (2001) and with subsp. alpinum as the more northernly distributed of the two. Morton's concept of Greenland and North American subsp. alpinum therefore largely corresponds to Hultén's concept of arctic subsp. lanatum, whereas Morton's subsp. lanatum corresponds to the European and type concept of this subspecies. The plants from the High Arctic (Hultén's arctic "lanatum" and Morton's "alpinum") may belong to a fourth and arctic, yet unrecognized race. This plant is provisionally accepted below as an unnamed race. However, plants observed in Svalbard in 2009 are morphologically very close to subsp. alpinum and acceptance of a separate arctic race may be unwarranted.
Higher Taxa
- Cerastium [4202,genus]